THE  LIBRARIES 


Bequest  of 

Frederic  Bancroft 

1860-1945 


'///' 


fM^ 


BELIEVE  IN  HONESTY.  BELIEVE  IN  YOURSELF 
AND  YOUR  OPPORTUNITY.  KEEP  YOURSELF 
WORTH  ALL  THAT  YOU  CAN.  HOLD  YOURSELF 
AT  THE  HIGHEST  PRICE.  BELIEVE  THAT  YOU 
OUGHT  TO  BE  SOMEBODY  IN  THE  WORLD. 
IT  RESTS  WITH  YOU  TO  LIVE  YOUR  LIFE  WELL. 
WE  HAVE  NOT  OUR  CHOICE  TO  BE  RICH  OR 
POOR,  BUT  WE  HAVE  OUR  CHOICE  TO  BE 
WORTHY    OR    WORTHLESS. 

BELIEVE  IN  CLEAN  LIVING.  STAND  ERECT 
AND  FEARLESS.  TAKE  THE  BEATEN  WAY,  FOR 
THE    END    IS    PEACE. 

KEEP  YOUNG.  KEEP  INNOCENT.  INNOCENCE 
DOES  NOT  COME  BACK;  AND  REPENTANCE  IS 
A  POOR  EXCUSE.  APOLOGIES  ONLY  ACCOUNT 
FOR  THAT  WHICH  THEY  DO  NOT  ALTER. 


COPYRIGHTED  1917 
THE  CAXTON  COMPANY 


LETTERS  TO  MY  SON 


PRINTED  FOR 
PRIVATE  CIRCULATION  ONLY 


ULR  CLASS  OF    13 


LETTERS 
TO  MY  SON 

By  WILLIAM  GIBSON 


^ 


VOLUME  I 


•     >    '  J     •   •  • 


>  > 


>  •  >  • 


CLEVELAND 

THE  CAXTON  COMPANY 

MCMXVII 


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4(5u 


.;i  352  P 


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•  •       •        •      ,      *  6        .      . 


FOREWORD 

T 

To  William  Lawrence  Gordon  Gibson. 

My  Dear  Bill:  During  the  years  you  were  in 
school  at  Charterhouse  we  kept  up  a  regular  and 
chummy  correspondence. 

About  the  time  you  came  home  to  Pittsburgh  and 
entered  the  Institute  of  Technology,  I  happened  to  be 
called  to  Cincinnati  to  pay  my  last  tribute  of  respect 
to  an  old  friend,  Mr.  W.  J.  Murphy,  Vice-President  of 
the  Cincinnati,  Neiv  Orleans  and  Texas  Pacific  Railway. 

On  my  arrival  at  Cincinnati  almost  the  first  indi- 
vidual to  be  encountered  was  Professor  F.  Paul  Ander- 
son, who  had  come  there  from  Kentucky  on  the  same 
sad  errand  which  brought  me  from  Pennsylvania. 
Anderson  and  I  were  old  and  intimate  friends,  and  we 
went  to  the  funeral  together  and  sat  in  the  same  pew. 

The  Reverend  Father  conducting  the  service  had 
been  devotedly  attached  to  Mr.  Murphy  who  during 
his  life  was  an  excellent  and  deeply  religious  man, 
and  had  been  active  in  church  and  charitable  work. 

In  delivering  the  funeral  oration  the  reverend 
gentleman  was  greatly  agitated,  and  got  quite  mixed 
up  in  his  eulogy.  As  a  matter  of  fact  it  had  neither 
beginning  nor  ending,  and  the  poor  man's  English  was 
past  human  understanding. 

After  leaving  church  Professor  Anderson  and  I  very 
naturally  had  remarks  to  make,  and  in  an  unguarded 

11 


FOREWORD 

moment  I  said,  "Paul,  I  could  preach  a  better  sermon 
myself."  He  was  quick  on  the  trigger  and  said  at 
once,  "I  have  been  asking  you  for  many  years  to  come 
to  Lexington  and  speak  to  our  boys.  Now  you  must 
come.     I  want  to  hear  your  sermon." 

The  connection  between  our  keeping  up  a  regular 
correspondence  while  you  were  in  school  in  England 
and  my  going  to  the  funeral  of  an  old  friend  in 
Cincinnati  may  not  at  first  blush  be  apparent,  but 
nevertheless  there  is  a  connection  and  a  quite  natural 
and  real  one,  as  you  will  see. 

I  thought  a  good  deal  over  Professor  Anderson's 
renewed  invitation,  or  rather  command,  as  he  finally 
put  it,  and  reached -the  conclusion  that,  while  it  was 
true,  taking  it  up  would  involve  a  good  deal  of  work 
and  time,  in  it  I  could  see  the  possibility  of  rewriting 
my  letters  to  you,  as  a  schoolboy,  in  quite  another 
form  of  course;  and  hence  these  papers,  read  before 
the  students  of  the  College  of  Engineering  and  the 
Department  of  English  at  the  State  University  of 
Kentucky,  are  first  and  foremost  open  letters  to  you, 
and  they  were  written  during  the  years  you  were  in 
the  School  of  Technology,  the  University  of  Pitts- 
burgh, or  the  Harvard  Law  School.  But  for  the  cir- 
cumstance above  narrated,  there  is  little  probability 
that  they  would  ever  have  been  written,  and  they 
are  the  product  of  idle  hours. 

Not  the  least  part  of  the  pleasure  this  work  has 
given  me  has  been  the  previous  discussion  of  the  dif- 
ferent subjects  in  an  informal  way  around  our  own 
dinner  table,  with  Mamma,  and  Dorothy  and  you, 
all  chipping  in,  entirely  unconscious  of  the  motive  I 

12 


FOREWORD 

had  in  turning  the  conversation  into  any  particular 
channel.  And  believe  me,  to  "turn  the  conversation" 
in  this  house  is  an  undertaking  compared  with  which, 
even  the  passing  of  a  camel  through  the  eye  of  a  needle 
is  simplicity  itself. 

When  putting  these  papers  into  this  consolidated 
form,  it  occurred  to  me  that  there  were  a  few  odds  and 
ends  of  reminiscences  and  reflections  —  nothing  at  all 
of  value,  neither  fish,  flesh,  fowl  nor  good  red  herring 
—  a  sort  of  potpourri  of  men  I  have  seen  and  known, 
and  things  I  have  heard  and  thought  —  which  might 
be  preserved,  and  these  by  right  of  age  are  given  first, 
although  they  were  quite  an  afterthought. 

*     *     *     * 

In  introducing  these  reminiscences  it  is  well  to  say 
that  through  the  pages  you  will  find  a  frequent  ref- 
erence to  the  sentiments  of  the  British  and  American 
people  regarding  each  other.  It  would  be  quite 
impossible  to  set  down  my  recollections  without  such 
reference  because  one  of  my  earliest  impressions  of  the 
United  States  was  of  a  country  largely  populated  and 
entirely  dominated  by  a  race  of  Irish  Kings  who  were 
ready  at  any  moment  to  launch  an  expedition  for  the 
capture  of  the  British  Islands.  That  the  country  con- 
tained a  few  native  born,  long  descended,  educated 
and  cultivated  Americans  I  realized,  of  course,  but 
they  were  as  a  subject  race.  The  Irish  Kings  held 
almost  unchallenged  sway.  They  were  courted  and 
deferred  to  by  both  political  parties.  They  influenced 
National  and  State  elections.  They  controlled  the 
government  of  all  our  great  cities.  Their  political 
influence  was  quite  as  much  out  of  proportion  to  their 

13 


FOREWORD 

voting  power  as  is  that  of  the  labor  element  in  the 
present  day,  and  as  individual  citizens  their  personal 
worth  was  distinctly  less.  The  modern  labor  unions 
represent  producers.  The  Irish  Kings  were  largely  par- 
asites representing  little  of  economic  or  national  value. 
So  there  is  nothing  new  about  minority  rule.  That 
smooth  old  Connecticut  Yankee,  P.  T.  Barnum,  many 
years  ago  sized  up  the  situation  in  a  familiar  expres- 
sion. So  great  was  the  power  of  the  Irish  Kings  that 
an  indiscreet  reference  during  the  campaign  of  1884 
by  one  of  Mr.  James  G.  Blaine's  supporters,  to  "Rum, 
Romanism  and  Rebellion"  cost  that  statesman  the 
Presidential  election. 

*     *     *     * 

The  change  which  in  recent  years  has  come  about 
in  the  sentiment  between  the  English  and  American 
peoples  is  second  in  value  and  importance  only  to  that 
between  the  North  and  the  South,  and  it  is  due  to  the 
same  reason  —  that  they  know  each  other  better. 

In  view  of  this  happily  changed  condition  it  might 
be  well  for  all  Englishmen  visiting  this  side  and  all 
Americans  visiting  the  other  to  avoid  critical  remarks 
until  they  at  least  get  "the  hang  of  things."  It  is  not 
for  the  one  to  criticise  the  other,  it  is  rather  for  each 
to  understand  the  other's  view.  For  my  own  part, 
after  a  lifelong  acquaintance  with  both  sides,  and 
having  a  good  conceit  of  myself  as  becomes  a  Scotsman, 
I  assume  the  right  to  sling  a  free  and  vagrant  pen  and 
with  the  most  public-be-damned  indifference  speak 
of  either  side  without  fear  of  incurring  the  slightest 
risk  of  giving  offense. 

*!*  '>  •1*  f' 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  these  letters  are  written, 
first  to  you  out  of  my  heart's  heart,  and  for  a  few  men 

U 


FOREWORD 

whom  I  esteem,  and  are  not  intended  to  go  beyond 
that  certain  small  circle  of  friends  whose  criticism  will 
be  at  least  sympathetic,  and  whose  approbation  all 
the  satisfaction  I  care  for  or  could  desire.  I  trust  all 
will  bear  with  the  asides  and  digressions,  keep  what 
may  be  found  worth  keeping,  and  with  the  breath  of 
kindness  blow  the  rest  away. 

I  may  not  always  be  clear  as  to  dates,  but  the 
events  are  given  in  chronological  order  as  far  as  a 
not  too  reliable  memory  will  permit. 

It  is  singularly  unfortunate  that  I  made  no  memo- 
randa of  things  as  they  happened,  and  more  so  that 
I  did  not  make  a  habit  of  preserving  letters.  A  few 
which  have  survived  by  finding  their  way  into  the 
old  scrapbooks  or  into  one  of  my  old  tin  boxes  are 
given.  I  did  attempt  many  years  ago  to  keep  a  diary, 
but  my  efforts  soon  convinced  me  that  there  are 
mighty  few  days  in  the  year  on  which  a  man  does 
anything  worth  recording. 

It  is  true  that  for  me  to  attempt  at  this  late  day 
to  set  down  from  memory  any  record  of  men  I  have 
known  or  even  met  is  like  unlocking  an  attic  trunkful 
of  unrelated  recollections  and  incidents  belonging  to 
a  past  generation. 

Nevertheless  there  are  many  recollections,  none  of 
them  of  any  great  moment  to  be  sure,  that  might 
interest  you,  and  no  matter  how  halting  and  discon- 
nected the  story  may  prove  to  be,  it  is  here  set  down 
for  you,  and  you  have  the  key  to  all  names  not  given. 

Each  incident  is  related  just  as  it  happened, 
according  to  the  best  of  my  recollection  and  with 
malice  toward  none. 

15 


FOREWORD 

Many  which  I  have  already  told  you  will  not  be 
given  here  lest  certain  people  or  their  descendants  or 
next  of  kin,  might  think  they  saw  in  them  a  right  of 

action  against  both  the  publisher  and  myself. 

*     *     *     * 

My  thanks  are  due  to  Mr.  C.  E.  Postlethwaite  of 
Pittsburgh,  for  his  generous  assistance  in  arranging 
the  illustrations. 

I  am  glad  also  to  record  my  indebtedness  to  my 
friend.  Professor  A.  St.  Clair  Mackenzie  (Glasgow  and 
Oxford),  Head  of  the  Department  of  Literature  in 
the  University  of  Kentucky,  for  much  valuable  aid 
in  reading  this  proof. 

Professor  Mackenzie  is  a  scholar  in  the  real,  but 
too  little  understood  sense  of  the  word  among  us. 
It  may  be  said  of  him  as  was  said  of  Goldsmith's 
parson : 

"And  still  they  gazed,  and  still  the  wonder  grew 
That  one  small  head  could  carry  all  he  knew." 

I  take  this  opportunity  also,  to  express  my 
appreciation  of  the  people  of  Kentucky,  looking  back 
over  a  long  period  of  years.  The  old  spirit  of  hos- 
pitality flourishes,  and  in  spite  of  the  new  note  in 
our  civilization  and  social  life,  their  pride  of  birth  and 
of  exclusiveness  remains  undiminished.  I  would  express 
in  particular  my  grateful  sense  of  the  hospitality, 
the  geniality  of  Professor  Anderson,  Mr.  R.  C.  StoU, 
and  of  my  many  friends  in  Lexington. 

My  relation  with  these  men  and  with  Lexington 
is  one  in  which  I  have  taken,  and  will  continue  to 
take  no  small  pride,  and  I  trust  that  you,  on  your 
own  behalf,  will  not  fail  to  maintain  it. 

1509  Shady  Avenue,  Bashi 

Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

December,  1913 

16 


REMINISCENCES 

Letter  Page 

I.     Queen  and  Crescent  Railroad 21 

II.  Queen  and  Crescent  Railroad  (Continued)      ...  41 

III.  Queen  and  Crescent  Railroad  (Continued)      ...  52 

IV.  Queen  and  Crescent  Railroad  (Continued)      ...  64 
V.  Queen  and  Crescent  Railroad  (Continued)      ...  76 

VI.     Thomas  Hughes 93 

VII.     Thomas  Hughes  (Continued) 106 

VIII.     Lord  Coleridge 113 

IX.     Lord  Coleridge  (Continued) 125 

X.     Lord  Coleridge  (Continued) 131 

XI.     Ohio 157 

XII.     Ohio  (Continued) 164 

XIII.  Ohio  (Continued) 179 

XIV.  Professor  McGuffey 188 

XV.  Cincinnati.     The  Robert  Burns  Club      ....  204 

XVI.  Cincinn.\ti.     The  Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick    .        .  219 

XVII.  The  Big  Four  Railroad.     Discipline  of  Employees     .  228 

XVIII.  The  Big  Four  R.a.ilroad.     The  Labor  Question    .  238 

XIX.  The  Big  Four  Railroad.     Personal  Recollections      .  260 

XX.     Leave  Cincinnati 272 


17 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Our  Class  of  '13 

1.  Mr.  John  Scott 

2.  Mr.  a.  L.  Humphrey    .        .        .        . 

3.  Mr.  George  Westinghouse 

4.  Dear  Old  Joe  Moses  .        .        .        . 

5.  The  Evolution  of  a  Signature 

6.  Mr.  R.  F.    Munro         .        .        .        . 

7.  Dr.  Thomas  W.  Graydon    . 

8.  Mr.  Howard  Saxby      ... 

9.  The  Heir  —  Now  Quite  Apparent 

10.  Mr.   C.   E.  Schaff  .        .        .        . 

11.  Mr.  M.  E.  Ingalls       .        .        .        . 


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18 


LETTERS  TO  MY  SON 


LETTERS  TO  MY  SON 

T 

LETTER  I 

QUEEN   AND    CRESCENT 

IN  1881  when  the  English  company  leased  from 
the  City  of  Cincinnati  its  railroad  running  from 
Cincinnati  to  Chattanooga,  the  president  of  the 
operating  company,  the  Cincinnati,  New  Orleans  and 
Texas  Pacific  Railway,  Mr.  John  Scott,  moved  his 
headquarters  from   Chattannoga  to   Cincinnati. 

Cincinnati  is  the  only  city  in  the  United  States 
which  is  the  owner  of  a  railroad.  It  is  true  that  there  are 
several  State-owned  railroads,  notably  the  Western  and 
Atlantic  which  was  built  by  the  State  of  Georgia  and 
is  leased  to  the  Louisville  and  Nashville  and  now  forms 
part  of  that  system. 

The  English  company  was  frequently  referred  to 
as  the  Erlanger  Syndicate,  because  prominently  iden- 
tified w^ith  it  was  Baron  Erlanger,  a  Parisian  banker. 
The  controlling  interest,  however,  was  held  in  London. 

Baron  Erlanger  had  married  Miss  Slidell,  a  daughter 
of  Mr.  John  Slidell  of  Mason  and  Slidell  fame.  Mr. 
Slidell  was  a  native  of  New  York  and  a  graduate  of 
Columbia,  but  as  a  young  man  had  removed  to  New 
Orleans  and  taken  up  the  practice  of  law.  He  held 
many  important  offices  and  entered  the  United  States 
Senate  in  1853  but  resigned  when  Louisiana  seceded 
in  1861.    In  September  of  that  year  he  was  appointed, 

21 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

in  association  with  Mr.  James  M.  Mason  of  Virginia, 
a  commissioner  of  the  Confederate  States  to  France. 
The  two  commissioners  ran  the  blockade  of  Charles- 
ton and  sailed  from  Havana  on  the  English  steamer 
Trent.  Captain  Wilkes  in  command  of  the  U.  S.  S. 
San  Jacinto  intercepted  the  Trent  at  sea  and  arrested 
the  two  commissioners.  It  has  been  related  that  when 
they  were  taken  aboard  the  San  Jacinto,  Miss  Slidell,* 
who  accompanied  her  father,  promptly  slapped  Cap- 
tain Wilkes  for  what  she  regarded  as  his  impertinence 
in  interrupting  their  voyage.  They  were  taken  to 
Boston  and  imprisoned  at  Fort  Warren,  but  were 
released  on  demand  of  the  British  Government  and 
permitted  to  proceed  to  Europe.  The  United  States 
accepted  England's  demand  as  an  adoption  of  the 
American  doctrine  which  denied  the  right  of  search. 
This  incident  is  known  in  history  as  the  "  Trent  affair." 
Erlanger's  personal  representative  in  the  United 
States,  Mr.  Charles  Schiff,  married  Miss  Mamie  Burch 
of  Nashville,  a  daughter  of  Mr.  John  C.  Burch  who 
had  been  Secretary  of  the  United  States  Senate,  and 
thus  we  see  that  there  is  nothing  new  in  matrimonial 
enterprise  about  our  Hebrew  friends,  for  both  Erlanger 
and  Schiff  were  full-blown  members  of  the  tribe  of 
Ephraim  or  Manasseh,  or  one  of  the  other  tribes 
of  Israel  which  got  lost  in  the  time  of  the  Assyrian 
Empire.  ^^     ^     ^     ^ 

As  my  old  friend  Joe  Moses  used  to  say  "There  are 
no  flies  on  our  people."  A  teacher  was  intent  on  the 
lesson,  and  continued  impressively: 

*'And  vast  swarms  of  flies  descended  on  the  land, 
and  came  into  the  houses  of  the  Egyptians  and  cov- 

*Her  granddaughter  became  the  wife  of  Major  Marchand  of  Fashoda  fame. 


QUEEN   AND    CRESCENT 

ered  their  clothing  and  their  tables  and  all  their  food, 
but  there  were  no  flies  on  the  children  of  Israel." 
A  small  boy  from  the  rear  of  the  room  interrupted: 
"Please  ma'am,  and  there  ain't  now  either." 

*  *     *     * 

Schiff  had  a  nephew,  Sydney,  an  old  Etonian  but 
an  insufferable  bounder.  Sydney  was  quite  unlike  the 
usual  Etonian  whose  dignity  is  so  natural  that  it  never 
occurs  to  him  to  wonder  whether  he  is  dignified,  much 
less  to  assert  it  to  others.  So  one  may  be  an  Etonian 
yet  not  of  Eton.  Sydney's  mother  was  a  daughter 
of  the  Earl  of  Clanricarde,  and  the  young  man  did  not 
hide  that  light  under  a  bushel.  He  said:  "My  father 
may  be  an  old  parvenu,  but  nothing  can  alter  the 
fact  that  my  mother  is  the  daughter  of  a  peer  of  the 
realm!"  Sir  Walter  makes  Baron  Bradwardine  say 
to  Captain  Waverley,  "Rank  and  Ancestry,  Sir,  should 
be  the  last  words  in  the  mouths  of  those  of  unblem- 
ished race." 

It  might  be  said  of  Sydney,  as  an  uncommonly 
clever  woman  remarked  regarding  a  certain  so-called 
society  young  man  whose  name  will  readily  occur  to 
your  mind,  "that  he  had  all  the  qualifications  of  a 
gentleman  which  could  be  acquired,  but  none  of  the 
instincts!''  That  remark  is  worthy  of  La  Rochefou- 
cauld. A  gentleman  is  solid  mahogany:  the  fashion- 
able man  is  only  veneer.  It  was  James  the  First  who 
remarked,  "I  can  make  a  lord,  but  not  a  gentleman." 

*  *     *     * 

The  Company  owned  the  Alabama  Great  Southern 
Railivay  running  from  Chattanooga  to  Meridian, 
Miss.,    and    continuous    lines   west   from    that   point 

23 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

through  Jackson  and  Vicksburg,  Miss.,  to  Shreveport, 
La.,  and  on  to  Marshall,  Texas.  They  built  the  Neio 
Orleans  and  North  Eastern  Division  from  Meridian 
into  the  City  of  New  Orleans,  and  thus  brought  into 
existence  what  afterward  became  known  as  the  Queen 
and  Crescent  system  and  Mr.  John  Scott  was  its  first 
President,  and  the  plan  was  of  his  creation. 

Mr.  Scott  was  an  Englishman  and  a  Roman 
Catholic,  was  educated  at  Stonyhurst  and  at  church 
schools  in  France,  and  spoke  French  as  well  as  he  did 
English.  He  was  a  devout  Catholic  and  loved  his 
church  and  her  traditions  with  that  love  that  casts 
out  fear.  He  was  a  most  energetic  and  hardworking 
man  and  kept  himself  in  intimate  touch  with  every 
department  of  the  road.  He  was  a  good  man,  but 
the  master  quality  of  mind  —  good  judgment,  or  sense 
of  proportion  —  was  not  his  strong  point.  He  was 
too  blunt  and  honest.  He  was  a  transparently  square 
man;  to  him  all  tortuous  things  were  a  torment — cer- 
tainly a  non-Jesuitical  characteristic.  A  spade  could 
never  even  for  argument's  sake  be  a  shovel.  He  and 
Scliiff  had  occasional  disagreements,  and  they  grew 
bigger  and  more  frequent  until  a  condition  developed 
akin  to  that  of  the  tarantula  and  the  scorpion. 

*     *     *     * 

There  were  two  rivals  for  a  beautiful  girl's  hand 
and  they  hated  each  other  cordially.  To  one  of  them 
came  a  fairy  saying  he  could  have  any  boon  he 
desired  and  whatever  he  had  his  rival  should  have  in 
double  portion.  Naturally  his  first  wish  was  for  a 
barrel  of  money. 

"All  right,"  said  the  fairy,  "but  your  rival  will 
get  two  barrels  on  that  wish." 

24- 


MR   JOHN  SCOTT 


QUEEN    AND    CRESCENT 

"Stop  a  little,"  said  the  first,  "Perhaps  you'd 
better  not  give  me  a  barrel  of  money.  I'd  rather 
you  would  make  me  totally  blind  in  one  eye." 

*     *     *     * 

Mr.  Scott  did  not  see,  and  perhaps  didn't  care, 
that  in  measuring  swords  with  Schiff  he  was  betting 
against  a  certainty.  He  had  nothing  like  a  sporting 
chance.  It  is  all  very  well  to  be  brave,  and  certainly 
John  Scott  lived  and  died  without  ever  having  the 
slightest  notion  of  what  the  word  fear  meant,  but 
when  one  goes  out  with  a  pea  shooter  or  a  flobert 
rifle  it  is  not  the  part  of  wisdom  to  engage  a  fellow 
armed  with  a  machine  gun.  It  may  be  magnificent, 
but  it  is  not  war. 


As  a  young  man  Mr.  Scott  was  a  clever  boxer  and 
a  splendid  all  round  athlete.  In  1871  he  held  three 
English  amateur  running  championships,  a  half,  one 
mile  and  four  miles,  a  record  which  in  these  forty- 
five  years  has  never  been  duplicated. 

*     *     *     * 

Mr.  Scott  finally  resigned  and  accepted  the  Presi- 
dency of  the  Colorado  Midland.  It  was  on  that  rail- 
road that  my  friend  Mr.  A.  L.  Humphrey,  now  the 
managing  director  of  the  Westinghouse  Air  Brake 
Company,  was  appointed  Superintendent  of  Motive 
Power  by  Mr.  Scott,  and  they  were  devoted  friends 
until  Mr.  Scott's  death.  The  fact  that  Humphrey 
and  I  served  under  Mr.  Scott  has  been  a  bond 
between  us. 

25 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

Mr.  Humphrey  has  put  part  of  his  own  experiences 
into  print  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  are  following 
him,  and  his  generous  appreciation  of  little  things  I 
have  written  from  time  to  time  compels  me  here  and 
now  to  say  to  him  in  these  words  of  Tennyson: 

"You  found  some  merit  in  my  rhymes, 
And  I  more  pleasure  in  your  praise." 

*  *      *      * 

There  has  been  much  discussion  as  to  who  was 
the  author  of  the  name  ''Queen  and  Ci'escent,"  and 
where  so  many  had  a  voice  in  the  selection  it  would 
be  quite  unjust  to  give  any  one  person  full  credit  for 
it  —  not  that  any  particular  credit  attaches  to  it, 
the  obvious  reference,  of  course,  being  to  Cincinnati, 
the  "Queen"  City  —  the  Queen  of  the  West  as  de- 
scribed in  Longfellow's  beautiful  lines,  and  to  New 
Orleans  —  the  "Crescent"  City.  The  name  just  grew, 
like  Topsy,  out  of  endless  talk  and  a  multiplicity  of 
suggestion,  for  all  hands  were  free  to  offer  an  opinion. 

*  *     *     * 

In  those  days  everybody  spoke  about  the  Civil 
War  and  fought  it  over  and  over. 

Take  the  officials  of  the  road  at  that  time.  The 
Secretary  and  Treasurer  was  a  Captain.  He,  poor 
man,  had  all  the  characteristics  of  a  poker,  except  its 
occasional  warmth.  He  evidently  feared  that  I  spent 
too  little  time  in  considering  the  lillies  of  the  field, 
and  in  reflecting  on  the  dangers  of  purple  and  fine 
linen,  for  he  took  me  aside  one  day  and  with  a  serious 
and  friendly  and  soapy  unction  said:  "Don't  you 
think  it  would  be  a  good  thing  if  you  were  to  attend 
church  a  little  more  frequently  than  you  do.^" 

26 


MR.  A.  L.  HT'>rPHRf:V 


QUEEN   AND    CRESCENT 

Appreciating  the  kindly  interest  of  an  older  man, 
I  said,  "Yes,  Captain,  that  is  quite  true."  Thereupon 
he  added,  "You  see  it  would  get  you  into  the  nicest 
society."  I  thanked  him,  but  can  scarcely  decide  even 
now  whether  at  the  moment  I  was  more  shocked  than 
amused  at  his  allusion  to  society,  and  church  as  a 
passport  to  it.  I  felt  myself  in  no  need  of  a  "cloak." 
He  little  knew  what  I  thought  then  and  have  con- 
tinued to  think  of  "Society,"  as  he  called  it  and 
understood  it  and  used  it.  Only  the  pen  of  a  Thack- 
eray could  hold  the  mirror  up  to  its  numberless  grades 
of  men,  not  to  speak  of  women  chasing,  —  what.f*  The 

"Polished  horde" 
"Formed  of  two  mighty  tribes,  the  Bores  and  Bored." 

Boredom  is  the  pebble  that  always  will  get  in  the 
slipper  of  the  pilgrim  of  pleasure. 

It  is  this  class  with  their  incessant  twaddle,  with 
their  affectations,  their  superficial  education,  their 
inordinate  fear  of  not  being  in  the  fashion,  their  terrific 
deference  to  opinion — it  is  this  neio  class  that  have 
utterly  destroyed  good  manners,  and  made  the  mode 
of  the  day  a  pair  of  pumps  shining  under  a  suit  of 
overalls.  Where  does  all  this  tend.^  Has  there  come 
over  us  a  change  from  the  chase  of  the  almighty  dollar 
to  something  else.^  Or  is  the  answer  that  many  of  our 
people  have  not  been  able  to  receive  the  blessings  of 
unexampled  growth  in  the  right  spirit.''  Is  exceptional 
good  fortune  to  be  a  means  of  demoralizing  us.^^  Let 
us  beware  of  the  frivolity  and  emptiness  of  effort 
that  are  eating  into  our  present  days'  civilization.  Is 
there  anything  yawning  society  will  not  do  to  be 
amused  .f* 

27 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

If  the  Father  of  his  country  could  return  to  earth 
and  cast  his  martial  gaze  around,  one  can  almost 
imagine  him  putting  a  kindly  hand  on  President  Taft's 
shoulder  and  saying  "Great  God,  Will,  am  I  the  father 
of  this?"  They  either  screech  or  purr.  There  is  no 
golden  mean.  Let  them  go  on,  but  keep  yourself  on 
the  side  lines;  true  dignity  comes  from  all  absence  of 
effort,  all  freedom  from  pretense.  That  is  the  per- 
fection of  good  breeding.  The  pity  of  this  new  society 
is  that  all  its  habits  make  almost  as  effectual  a  dis- 
guise mentally  and  morally  as  a  domino  at  Mardi- 
Gras  does  physically.  One  wonders  if  there  is  such  a 
thing  as  absolute  sincerity.  Are  we  all  posing  or 
simply  posing  as  posing.^  Everybody  strives  to  look 
like  everybody  else.  Individuality  is  totally  lost. 
Cicero  says:  "I  would  rather  have  sound  common  sense 
without  eloquence  than  folly  with  a  fine  flow  of  lan- 
guage." 

*  *     *     * 

It  was  our  own  grand  old  dame  with  her  long- 
descended  point-lace;  a  perfectly  composed  and 
balanced  study;  the  tones  and  values  true;  her  per- 
fectly modelled  hands,  and  her  Goya  Lily,  who 
remarked:  "I  never  say  rude  things;  but  if  you  wish 
me  to  be  sincere,  I  confess  I  think  everybody  is  a 
little  vulgar  now,  except  old  women  like  me."  And 
there  is  much  more  truth  than  jest  in  the  remark. 

*  *     *     * 

Like  Artemus  Ward  I  have  found  that,  "one  of 
the  principal  features  of  my  entertainment  is  that  it 
contains  so  many  things  that  don't  have  anything  to 

28 


QUEEN   AND    CRESCENT 

do  with  it."  To  be  able  to  entertain  one's  self  is  a 
qualification  every  man  should  possess.  Blessed  is  he 
who  has  resources  of  contentment.  You  will  do  well 
to  remember  the  words  of  Edward  Dyer,  a  sixteenth 
century  poet: 

My  mind  to  me  a  Kingdom  is; 

Such  present  joys  therein  I  find, 
That  it  excels  all  other  bliss, 

That  earth  affords  or  grows  by  kind. 

We  all  need  retreat  from  time  to  time,  to  get  away 
to  some  quiet  nook  far  from  the  troubles  of  today 
or  the  cares  of  tomorrow.  So  many  people  lose  them- 
selves through  never  being  by  themselves.  It  is  use- 
less, says  Epictetus,  to  desire  to  kill  tigers  and  lions 
in  distant  lands  if  we  cannot  rid  ourselves  of  the  wild 
beasts  in  ourselves.  We  need  to  stop  and  consider  and 
think  it  all  over  in  silence.  To  take  stock  as  it  were, 
"Know  thyself."  Leisure  for  meditation  is  no  small 
treasure,  though  the  social  world  does  not  number  it 
amongst  its  joys.  As  my  old  friend  Howard  Saxby 
expresses  it: 

Just  get  together  with  yourself 

And  trust  yourself  with  vou. 
And  you  will  find  how  well  yourself 

Will  like  you  if  you  do. 

Our  tendency  is  toward  too  much  activity  and  too 
little  thinking.  Calm  consideration  and  quiet  study 
seem  to  be  entirely  lost  in  our  hustle  and  bustle  fever- 
heat  of  action.  It  is  an  empty  life  that  needs  only 
to  be  amused.  You  must  take  in  before  you  can 
give  out.  Hived  bees  get  sugar  because  they  give 
back  honey.    All  existence  is  a  series  of  equivalents. 

29 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

You  might  look  up  Proverbs,  Chapter  25,  Verse 
17,  and  fix  it  in  your  mind.  Regard  it  through  Hfe 
as  a  green  signal. 

Apply  it  particularly  to  calling  on  people — especially 
busy  people  —  and  all  people  really  worth  knowing 
are  busy  people.  The  thing  to  do  is  to  come  to  the 
point  immediately  after  the  greeting.  Old  friendships, 
it  is  true,  are  like  a  shaft  of  light  across  the  gloom  to 
a  busy  man,  but  let  the  busy  man  himself  indicate  an 
excursion  into  old  scenes,  old  friends  and  old  memories. 
And  then  it  is  a  safe  rule  to  utterly  discredit  any 
insistence  on  his  part  upon  your  staying,  even  if  several 
times  repeated.  This  may  seem  cold  philosophy,  but 
it  is  nothing  of  the  kind.  It  is  simply  taking  a  fact 
at  its  real  value  and  injecting  it  into  conduct.  Above 
all  never  quote  one  man  to  another  in  a  business  or 
professional  interview  without  specific  permission,  and 
then  be  scrupulously  accurate. 

Keep  out  of  the  lime  light.  Listen  a  great  deal. 
Talk  very  little.*  It  was  Sydney  Smith  who  said  of 
Macaulay,  "He  has  occasional  flashes  of  silence  that 
make  his  conversation  perfectly  delightful."  No  great 
talker  ever  did  anything  great  yet,  in  this  world. 
Most  people  talk  too  much.  They  are  like  the  grass- 
hoppers, which,  as  Burke  observed  long  ago,  made 
far  more  noise  and  were  much  more  audible  than 
"the  stately  cattle  that  are  grazing  in  silence."  You 
have  heard  of  the  small  pompous  individual  of  whom 
some  one  said  he  had  not  body  enough  to  cover  his 
mind  decently  with;  his  intellect  was  improperly 
exposed. 

*Proverbs  XVII,  Verse  27. 

30 


QUEEN   AND    CRESCENT 

Remember  the  first  lesson  of  breeding  is  to  decently 
and  discreetly  apprenez  a  vous  ejfacer.  Keep  your 
claws  sheathed.  You  can  do  more  with  molasses  than 
vinegar.  The  puff  perfect  is  the  puff  personal  — 
adroitly  masked.  Incidentally,  it  may  be  observed, 
that  it  is  just  as  necessary  to  cultivate  our  cabbages 
as  it  is  to  watch  our  roses. 

Don't  forget  the  fable  of  the  little  dog  that  barked 
at  a  cyclone  and  got  blown  inside  out.  The  moral 
is,  face  the  wind  but  keep  your  mouth  shut.  There 
is  the  man  who  says  he  is  able  to  tell  any  woman's 
age  by  looking  at  her.  Maybe  he  can,  but  if  he  has 
any  sense  he  won't  attempt  it.  It  is  worse  than 
kissing  the  wrong  girl. 

There  are  lots  of  things  it  doesn't  pay  to  say  or  do. 
I  have  a  friend  than  whom  there  is  no  better  meaning 
man  on  earth,  but  somehow  or  other  he  has  utterly 
failed  to  comprehend  the  thought  I  am  now  trying 
to  convey  to  you.  He  has  not  cultivated  obscurity 
as  a  virtue.  Let  us  suppose  Julius  Caesar,  George 
Washington  and  General  Grant  sitting  in  the  Duquesne 
Club  swapping  reminiscences  over  a  cigar  and  a  high- 
ball. If  my  friend  joined  the  party,  at  the  very  first 
opening  in  the  conversation  he  would  immediately 
recount  some  experience  of  his  own  which  would  make 
them  look  like  bush-leaguers.  Be  a  good  listener. 
When  you  have  nothing  to  say  don't  say  it. 

*     *     *     * 

Of  course  there  is  another  side  to  all  of  this  as 
there  is  to  everything,  for  it  has  been  said  that  modesty 
is  a  drawback  to  success — that  a  failure  to  perceive 
his  own  limitations  has  been  the  one  real  mainspring 

31 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

in  many  a  man's  success  in  life  —  in  fact  the  only 
one.  This  may  be  true.  "Jackdaws  may  strut  in 
peacocks'  feathers" — for  a  time,  but  not  all  the  time. 
The  most  striking  thing  about  a  really  educated 
man  is  not  the  extent  of  his  knowledge  but  the  extent 
of  his  admitted  ignorance.  The  wiser  a  person  is  the 
greater  the  number  of  things  he  doesn't  know.  No 
man  is  so  consummate  an  ass  as  the  one  who  thinks  he 
knows  it  all,  or  who  even  thinks  he  knows  a  great  deal. 

*     *     *     * 

But  I  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  Secretary  and 
Treasurer  in  my  ramblings.  His  kindly  intended  sug- 
gestion was  dangerously  close  to  snobbery.  What  is 
a  snob.^  As  I  have  understood  the  word  it  is  a  man 
who  abases  himself  in  the  presence  of  people  whom 
he  considers  his  superiors.  Byron  said  of  Moore, 
"Tommy  dearly  loves  a  Lord."  A  snob  is  one  who 
worships  wealth  or  social  position.  A  snob  is  a  man  on 
a  ladder  who  kisses  the  feet  of  the  man  on  the  round 
above  him  and  kicks  at  the  man  on  the  round  below 
him.  I  suppose  in  a  way  every  man  more  or  less  makes 
foothold  of  others  and  this  is  the  peculiar  province  of 
the  snob,  and  too  often  the  effort  is  rather  clumsily 
disguised.  Many  illustrations  of  this  will  occur  to 
your  mind  more  especially  one  or  two  outstanding  cases, 
but  that  is  our  secret. 

I  have  met  many  snobs  and  many  Uriah  Heeps. 
There  is  quite  as  much  snobbery  among  people  who 
proclaim  their  humble  beginning  as  a  means  of  em- 
phasizing their  present  greatness.  Dickens  recognized 
this  when  he  created  the  character  of  Mr.  Bounderby. 
If  Dickens  had  not  written  David   Copperfield   prior 


QUEEN   AND    CRESCENT 

to  his  first  visit  to  the  United  States  I  could  have 
made  a  good  guess  as  to  where  he  discovered  the 
original  Uriah  Heep.  I  could  put  my  finger  on  him 
—  a  perfect  model.     This  is  another  of  our  secrets. 

*  *     *     * 

When  you  came  home  at  the  close  of  your  first 
term  at  Harvard  University,  you  and  I  one  morning 
started  to  walk  down  Shady  Avenue.  Before  we  had 
gone  far  you  spied  our  old  Italian  friend  of  the  "White 
Wings,"  and  without  a  word  you  darted  across  the 
street  and  spoke  to  him.  Only  a  gentleman  could 
have  spontaneously  performed  such  a  gracious  act  and 
I  felt  very  proud  of  you.  Does  anyone  suppose  a 
snob  would  have  even  thought  of  walking  across  the 
street  to  say  a  kind  word  to  a  street  sweeper?  That 
illustrates  and  puts  into  a  nut  shell  what  I  am  trying 
to  say. 

Your  action  on  that  occasion  reminded  me  of  an 
old  story  told  of  Browning.  He  happened  to  be  doing 
the  honors  at  the  house  of  his  son,  the  artist,  during 
the  latter's  absence.  An  unannounced  visitor  joined 
the  fashionable  throng.  Mr.  Browning  essayed  to 
shake  her  hand,  when  she  interposed  with  the  explana- 
tion that  she  was  only  the  cook  who  had  been  asked 
in  to  look  at  the  pictures.  "And  I  am  very  glad  to 
see  you,"  said  Mr.  Browning,  "take  my  arm  and  I 
will  show  you  around."  It  is  possible  that  no  one  has 
ever  been  able  to  understand  all  of  his  poetry,  but  of 
his  manhood  there  can  be  no  question. 

*  *     *     * 

Curiously  enough  there  is  quite  a  distinction 
between  the  English  and  the  American  use  of  the  word 

33 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

snob.  In  an  American  university  town  snob  would 
not  be  applied  by  gownsmen  to  townsmen,  but  by 
townsmen  to  gownsmen.  In  certain  circles  it  may 
occasionally  be  applied  to  the  non-elect,  but  it  is 
much  more  likely  to  be  applied  by  "climbers"  to 
inaccessible  members  of  the  "inner  circle;"  a  snob  is 
not  one  who  seeks  to  associate  with  those  of  superior 
rank  or  wealth  or  intelligence,  but  one  who  keeps 
aloof  from  those  he  thinks  of  inferior  rank  or  wealth. 
In  England  a  snob  is  a  man  who  falls  short  of  the 
perfect  aristocrat  through  a  taint  of  democratic 
vulgarity,  whereas  in  the  United  States  a  snob  is  a 
man  who  falls  short  of  the  perfect  democrat  through  a 
taint  of  aristocratic  exclusiveness. 

*     *     *     * 

There  used  to  be  what  was  called  a  "Four  Hun- 
dred" in  New  York.  They  created  themselves  the 
social  elect  and  every  climber  was  eager  to  gain 
admission  to  their  circle. 

A  person,  whose  forbears  laid  the  foundations  of 
a  colossal  fortune  by  trading  in  skins,  took  the 
responsibility  for  many  years  of  making  up  the  list 
of  the  elect.  Naturally  enough  she  had  imitators  in 
every  community.  Brains,  birth,  intellect,  achieve- 
ment, grace  and  beauty  did  not  insure  anyone  a 
place  on  the  list,  and  in  time  the  term  "Four  Hun- 
dred" fell  into  disuse.  Possibly  they  were  bored  to 
extinction  with  each  other.  Such  an  aristocracy  could 
not  last.  Exclusiveness  must  be  founded  on  something 
substantial.  The  really  brilliant,  cultivated,  and 
thoughtful  men  and  women  of  wealth  had  no  sym- 
pathy for,  such  an  aristocracy;    their  money  was  not 

3J^ 


QUEEN   AND    CRESCENT 


spent  on  monkey  dinners  and  turkey  trots.  Their 
beneficence  went  to  endow  hospitals,  to  estabhsh  insti- 
tutions of  learning  and  profound  research;  to  develop 
an  artistic  taste  among  the  people,  and  to  improve 
conditions  in  the  tenements  and  on  the  farm. 

Such  men  and  women  of  wealth,  not  numbering 
four  hundred  but  many  thousands,  were  and  still  are 
the  patrons  of  science,  religion  and  art,  and  of  every 
movement  for  advancing  the  public  welfare.  They 
are  the  aristocrats  of  human  achievement,  without 
claiming  to  live  in  an  exclusive  circle  and  without 
limitations  as  to  qualified  membership.  They  prefer 
to  be  numbered  among  the  millions  who  lend  a  help- 
ing hand  to  the  lowly,  and  thus  create  an  aristocracy 
of  good  deeds  in  which  the  humblest  may  have  his  or 
her  place.  In  these  days  we  hear  much  speaking 
about  the  rich.  One  is  not  surprised  that  the  press 
should  indulge  in  this  indiscriminate  scolding,  but  it 
is  quite  another  thing  when  our  clergymen — who  of 
all  people  should  hold  up  the  light  of  hope  in  this 
sufficiently  dark  world — engage  in  preaching  from  their 
pulpits  the  doctrine  of  class  prejudice  and  pessimism, 
and  freely  using  such  cant  phrases  as  the  "idle  rich." 

The  rich  people  of  my  acquaintance  are  not  wasting 
their  time  in  riotous  living,  or  idly  running  motors, 
or  unceasingly  loafing  at  country  clubs.  They  are 
sober  and  industrious  people  who,  as  a  rule,  are  kept 
exceedingly  busy  in  the  very  rare  and  exceptional 
occupation  of  minding  their  own  business,  at  which 
they  are  making  a  much  greater  success,  and  incident- 
ally doing  more  useful  service  to  humanity  than  the 
self-righteous   men   and   women   who   are   engaged   in 

35 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

telling  them  what  they  ought  to  do.  One  of  the  fine 
arts,  too  often  neglected,  is  that  of  minding  one's 
own  business. 

My  own  conclusion  is  that  the  "idle  rich"  is  largely 
a  figment  of  the  popular  imagination,  and  that  it 
exists  principally  for  the  use  of  sensational  preachers, 
ill-balanced  socialists,  snobs,  and  jaundiced  editors. 
It  is  always  the  leading  class  of  a  community  which 
comes  in  for  the  most  attention,  pleasant  and 
unpleasant.  Surely  we  cannot  declaim  against  thrift, 
and  penalize  success. 

There  are  some  pretty  worthless  rich  people,  sad 
to  say,  but  they  are  a  small  minority.  My  own 
opinion  is  that  the  worst  people  hereabouts  are  not 
those  who  have  money,  but  those  who  have  not  and 
are  ready  to  do  anything  to  get  it.  We  have  been 
taught  that  "Money  is  the  root  of  all  evil."*  That 
old  line  long  ago  written  in  copy  books  might  at  least 
be  correctly  quoted:  ""The  ivant  of  money  is  the  root 
of  all  evil."  It  was  Benjamin  Franklin  who  said  it 
was  hard  for  an  empty  sack  to  stand  upright. 

One  of  the  most  dangerous  diseases  society  must 
cope  with  is  money-hunger,  and  to  that  at  least  the 
rich  are  apt  to  be  immune.  Rich  men's  sons  vary 
very  much  as  poor  men's  sons  do.  It  all  depends  on 
their  rearing  and  on  the  fellow  himself.  If  a  fellow 
wants  to  be  a  dude  or  a  drone  in  this  life  of  ours,  his 
father's  bank-account  or  the  lack  of  it  will  not  make 
much  difference.  Take  Clarence  Peacock,  for  example. 
All  the  wealth  of  his  father  and  his  father-in-law  com- 
bined does  not  prevent  him  from  being  the  splendid, 

*  Timothy,  VI  10. 

36 


QUEEN    AND    CRESCENT 

hard  working  young  fellow  he  is,  and  he  would  be 
just  the  same  if  they  were  poor.  Remember  that 
Marcus  Aurelius  says,  "Even  in  a  palace  life  may  be 
well  lived." 

It  is  an  infinitely  more  meritorious  thing  for  a 
rich  man  to  lead  a  safe  moral  life  than  for  a  poor  one. 
The  poor  man  has  the  better  of  that  proposition 
because  he  is  subjected  to  less  temptation. 

*  *     *     * 

Dr.  George  Trumbull  Ladd,  Emeritus  Professor  of 
Philosophy  in  Yale  University,  has  well  said  that, 
"The  Great  Illusion"  in  our  own  land  and  day  is 
the  general  belief  that  to  get  money  and  so  to  control 
the  things  which  money  will  buy  is  the  only  way  to 
get  happiness,  and  he  goes  on  to  say  that  the  curious 
thing  about  it  all  is  that  rich  men  themselves  will 
tell  you  that  riches  have  not  brought  to  them  the 
happiness  they  expected  from  them;  often,  that  they 
were  not  at  all  so  happy  as  they  were  when  they  were 
poor,  yet  they,  too,  and  the  multitudes  of  the  people 
go  steadily  or  fitfully  and  feverishly  on,  just  as  though 
they  were  firmly  convinced  that  the  experience  of  the 
race  did  not  tell  the  truth;  or  that  they  could  some- 
how make  themselves  exceptions  to  the  universal  law. 
And  he  adds:  "There  must  be  something  in  human 
nature,  and  in  its  environment,  to  account  for  such 
self-contradictions  and  irrational  behavior  as  this 
attitude  of  the  multitude  of  men  toward  great  wealth 

seems  to  indicate." 

*  *     *     * 

If  exact  definitions  could  be  given  of  what  con- 
stitutes "poverty"  and  what  constitutes  " inordinate 

37 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

wealth,"  the  issue  would  be  an  excellent  one  for 
discussion  in  academic  circles.  The  practical  mind, 
however,  will  note  that  the  number  of  persons  exposed 
to  the  temptations  of  poverty  must  be  at  least  ten 
thousand  times  as  great  as  the  number  exposed  to 
those  of  inordinate  wealth.  Consequently  it  is  the 
poverty  vices  and  crimes  that  most  concern  not  only 
the  police  but  the  reformer.  Profligacies  of  the  inor- 
dinately wealthy  pass  over  a  community  almost  as 
harmlessly  as  a  flaming  comet  that  astounds  but  is 
too  far  out  of  reach  to  affect  the  lives  of  many.  The 
temptations  of  poverty,  however,  festering  in  obscur- 
ity, may  poison  the  air  for  thousands. 

*  *     *     * 

Why  cannot  men  appreciate  the  beauty  and  gentle- 
ness of  living  in  and  of  itself,  the  wealth  of  joy  in 
reflection,  of  comfort  in  a  mind  trained  to  see  the 
better  things  and  to  dwell  amid  the  compensating 
thoughts.^  Why  should  not  everyone  determine  to 
live  worthily  upon  the  earth  even  though  their  names 
never  become  known  for  any  superior  talent  or  activ- 
ity, to  be  honest  and  industrious,  even  though  not 
endowed  with  wealth  and  preferment.^ 

*  *     *     * 

There  is  much  in  that  French  saying,  "If  youth 
had  the  knowledge,  if  age  had  the  force."  Of  course 
it  would  be  agreeable  to  combine  the  best  of  every 
period  of  life  and  hang  on  to  the  combination  but,  as 
Matthew  Arnold  has  so  truthfully  pointed  out,  the 
only  thing  youth  and  age  have  in  common  is  dis- 
content. The  profitable  course  is  to  inake  the  most 
of  the  age,  the  place,  the  job  we  happen  to  be  in, 

38 


MR.  CKOUCK   WI'.S'l'IXCIIorSH 


QUEEN   AND    CRESCENT 

and  while  philosophizing  enough,  not  to  spend  too 
much  energy  in  baying  at  the  irrevocable.  Aim  at 
health  and  happiness  and  help  your  brother  man. 
He  who  walks  softly  through  life,  doing  a  kindness 
where  he  can  and  so  keeping  faith  in  mankind,  need 
not  be  anxious  about  what  may  be  written  on  his  tomb. 

*     *     *     * 

The  greatest  thing  demanded  by  this  age  is  to  rear 
men  and  in  the  natural  course  of  human  life,  in  college 
and  after,  certain  of  them  will  gradually  separate 
themselves  from  the  great  mass  and  rise  above  it. 
These  are  the  big  men  and  they  will  be  the  rich  men 
and  they  ought  to  be.  We  need  them  more  and  more 
and  we  will  continue  to  need  them,  and  there  will 
always  be  room  for  them  at  the  top,  for  we  never  can 
again  break  big  business  into  little  firms,  or  disin- 
tegrate our  great  railroad  systems  into  their  original 
component  and  unrelated  parts.  Business  forever  here- 
after must  be  on  the  plan  of  the  tides  of  the  sea  and 
the  courses  of  the  planets. 

Our  demands,  our  enterprises,  our  commercial  move- 
ments must  be  gigantic  and  the  men  who  put  their 
lives  and  their  brains  into  them,  like  Mr.  Westing- 
house,  Mr.  Hill  or  Mr.  Carnegie  will  have  a  right  to 
share  the  profit  in  proportion  to  their  ability, 
adventure  and  investment,  and  the  smaller  men  who 
may  seek  to  obscure  their  own  failures  by  snarling 
and  barking  about  "predatory  wealth,"  will  only 
expose  themselves  to  ridicule  and  contempt,  for  you 
can  take  it  as  a  fundamental  truth  that  the  American 
people  will  not  be  fooled  all  the  time  by  bossism  or 
socialism  or  any  other  ism. 

39 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

Let  US  rather  believe  in  the  greatest  men  for  the 
greatest  things,  the  greatest  opportunities  for  all  men, 
the  greatest  liberty  for  the  greatest  achievement  of  any 
and  every  useful  enterprise  with  no  obstructive  laws. 

There  is  no  greater  nonsense  than  that  the  posses- 
sion of  wealth  by  one  person  means  poverty  for  the 
many.  The  contrary  is  the  rule.  Wealth  provides 
the  employment  that  helps  the  whole  population  and 
does  not  detract  from  the  general  prosperity. 

Both  in  Washington  and  in  all  the  States  we  are 

legislating  too  much  for  little  things.     The  laws  of 

nature  and  the  gifts  of  God  call  for  legislation  that 

shall   approach   the   magnitude   of   the   things   to   be 

done,   and  to  be  done  by  men  great  enough  to   do 

them,   and   in   the  future   the  vast   majority   of   our 

great  men  will  continue  to  spring,  as  they  have  in 

the  past,  from  small  beginnings.    It  may  seem  to  you 

that  this  is  repeating  myself  and  it  is,  but  you  cannot 

get  it  too  firmly  fixed  in  your  mind  that  an  Academic 

degree  and  a  degree  in  the  study  of  law,  necessary 

and   honorable   and   creditable   as   both   are,    do   not 

make    a    lawyer.      They    are    only    a    beginning — the 

alphabet  of  his  training. 

*     *     *     * 

You  doubtless  will  find  more  or  less  repetition  in 
these  pages,  but  the  constant  similarity  of  the  subject 
renders  that  fault  difficult  to  avoid. 


JiO 


LETTER  II 

QUEEN   AND    CRESCENT 

(Continued) 

THE  General  Passenger  Agent  was  a  Major. 
The  Purchasing  Agent  was  a  General,  and  he 
looked  every  inch  the  part.  He  was  a  fine  old 
gentleman.  The  General  Superintendent  never  pre- 
tended to  have  been  more  than  a  private. 

The  Superintendent  of  Motive  Power  had  served 
on  the  Confederate  Cruiser  Alabama,  so  he  claimed, 
but  it  happened  that  an  engineman  he  had  fired,  no 
doubt  for  ample  cause,  wrote  to  the  President  and 
said  the  gentleman  was  a  liar,  that  he  never  saw 
the  Alabama,  and  that  when  the  American  Eagle 
screamed  he  betook  himself  to  the  more  peaceful 
climate  of  Cuba,  and  there  ran  an  engine  until  he 
was  discharged  for  burning  her.'" 

5f:  *  *  * 

Practically  all  of  the  passenger  conductors  and 
enginemen  had  served  in  either  army. 

When  you  consider  that  condition,  and  the  fact 
that  at  this  moment  I  can  only  recall  in  my  acquaint- 
ance, a  mere  handful  of  veterans  of  the  Civil  War 
still  in  active  official  harness,  one  does  feel  that  time 
is  marching  on.  These  men  are  Captain  Geo.  F. 
Baer,*  President,  Philadelphia  and  Reading  R.  R.;  Mr. 
L.  E.  Johnson,  President,  Norfolk  and  Western  R.  R., 

♦Obiit  1914. 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

Colonel  J.  M.  Schoonmaker,  Vice-President,  Pittsburgh 
and  Lake  Erie  R.  R.;  Captain  G.  W.  Booth*  (Con- 
federate), Comptroller,  and  Mr.  C.  V.  Lewis,  General 
Freight  Agent  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  R.  R.;  Mr. 
Edward  Colston,  General  Counsel,  Queen  and  Crescent 
(Confederate),  "Uncle  Bill"  Lewis,  of  the  Norfolk  and 
Western  Road,  and  Mr.  Charles  Watts,  General  Super- 
intendent of  Passenger  Transportation,  Pennsylvania 
Lines  West. 

Ten  years  from  now  the  familiar  sight  of  a  soldier 
of  the  Civil  War  will  be  almost  unknown;  only  a 
few  stragglers  will  be  left.  Today  (1913)  according 
to  the  last  Pension  Bureau  statistics,  their  ages  average 
slightly  over  seventy -two  years,  f 

The  war  between  the  States  was  the  crucible  of  a 
great  people  who  tempered  their  principles  with  their 
courage  and  blood  on  the  points  of  bayonets  and 
sabres,  at  the  muzzles  of  guns  and  cannon,  on  land 
and  sea.  It  was  the  inquisition  of  republican  insti- 
tutions. 

If,  as  in  the  olden  times  in  the  armies  of  Saul  and 
David,  of  Hannibal  and  Caesar,  the  fighting  forces 
of  the  Civil  War  had  been  assembled  on  one  broad 
plain,  to  come  to  a  decision  on  one  mighty  battle,  it 
would  have  made  a  continuous  battle  line  of  nearly 
seventeen  hundred  miles  —  a  soldier  to  every  one 
and  a  half  yards  on  the  Northern  line,  and  a  soldier 
to  every  four  yards  on  the  Southern  battle  line. 

But  time  has  bridged  the  chasm  of  the  Civil  War 
which  represented  a  mighty  struggle  and  probably 
the  most  momentous  victory  as  yet  recorded  in  human 
annals. 

*Obiit  1914 

tOf  the  two  and  three-quarter  millions  of  men  enlisted  in  the  Northern  Army  one  million  one 

hundred  and  fifty  thousand  or  42  per  cent,  were  18  years  old  and  under. 

J^2 


QUEEN    AND    CRESCENT 

On  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  sits  a  grave  and  learned  chief  justice  who  was 
once  a  Confederate  soldier.  With  him  sits  an  associate 
justice  who  served  four  years  in  the  Union  Army. 
There  sits  also  on  that  bench  another  associate  justice 
who  fought  for  three  years  under  the  Stars  and  Bars. 

Lincoln's  prayer  for  "a  new  birth  of  freedom"  was 
long  ago  answered.  It  is  not  merely  that  human 
slavery  was  destroyed.  It  is  not  merely  that  the 
doctrine  of  secession  was  crushed.  It  is  not  merely 
that  the  North  brought  the  South  back  into  the 
Union  and  established  the  supremacy  of  the  national 
authority.  Out  of  it  all  a  new  nation  came  into  being, 
with  new  ideals,  new  aspirations  and  new  principles. 
The  baptism  of  blood  was  indeed  a  consecration. 

It  is  possible,  as  James  Bryce*  has  remarked,  that 
a  higher  statesmanship  might  have  averted  the  Civil 
War.  But  it  is  not  possible  that  any  statesmanship 
could  have  produced  the  nation  that  emerged  from 
that  conflict.  It  was  a  nation  forged  on  the  anvil 
of  a  war  that  took  no  thought  of  material  gains  or 
of  material  losses.  Out  of  the  welter  came  a  national 
life  vastly  different  from  anything  that  went  before. 
It  is  easy  to  picture  a  government  that  could  have 
disposed  of  the  slavery  issue  on  a  basis  of  dollars 
and  cents.  But  it  is  not  easy  to  picture  a  country 
that  could  have  grown  into  the  United  States  that 
we  know  without  the  suffering  and  sacrifice  of  the 
Civil  War. 

This  is  a  generation  that  was  born  after  the  smoke 
of  battle  had  cleared  away,  and  it  is  a  generation  prone 
to  forget  how  much  blood  and  iron  have  gone  into 

•  See  Letter  X. 

J^3 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

the  winning  and  holding  of  human  Hberty.  Let  it 
remember  that  the  broken  remnants  of  the  blue  and 
gray  had  once  seen  a  vision,  and  that  visions  count  for 
infinitely  more  than  money  in  the  making  of  a  nation. 

It  is  not  an  uncommon  remark  that  Gettysburg 
should  have  been  included  in  the  "Fifteen  Decisive 
Battles  of  the  World,"  but  that  book  was  published 
ten  years  before  the  Civil  War. 

It  matters  not,  however,  whether  Creasy  was  or 
was  not  in  time  to  recognize  Gettysburg  among  his 
"Decisive  Battles."  It  was  anything  but  decisive. 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  one  of  the  first  to  discern  that  Meade's 
overwhelming  victory  did  not  signify  the  early  close 
of  the  war.  This  is  what  he  wrote  to  General  Meade 
just  after  Lee's  retreat: 

"I  do  not  believe  you  appreciate  the  magnitude  of 
the  misfortune  involved  in  Lee's  escape.  He  was 
within  your  easy  grasp,  and  to  have  closed  in  upon 
him  would,  in  connection  with  our  other  late  suc- 
cesses,* have  ended  the  war.  As  it  is,  the  war  will 
be  prolonged  indefinitely.  Your  golden  opportunity  is 
gone,  and  I  am  distressed  immeasureably  because  of  it." 

The  war  went  on  as  Lincoln  predicted,  and  with 
no  abatement  in  its  fury,  for  a  period  of  nearly  two 
years.  From  May  to  July  alone  General  Grant  lost 
over  fifty  thousand  men  in  his  advance  from  the 
Rapidan  to  Richmond,  and  in  the  same  year  the 
National  Capital  was  panic  stricken  by  the  approach 
of  the  forces  of  General  Early. 

Nor  is  it  necessary  to  recall  the  furious  fighting 
in  the  west  after  Gettysburg,  especially  at  Franklin, 
and  Atlanta  and  elsewhere.     In  fact  the  entire  war 

*  Fall  of  Vicksburg,  etc. 

u 


QUEEN    AND    CRESCENT 

zone  witnessed  almost  ceaseless  bloody  battles  from  the 
date  of  Lee's  defeat  on  the  first  three  days  of  July, 
1863,  to  his  surrender  at  Appomattox  in  April,  1865. 

Lincoln  was  the  great  outstanding  figure  through 
this  terrible  period.  In  the  fulness  of  his  fame  he 
joined  the  company  of  the  immortals,  and  what  a 
splendid  memory  his  personality  suggests,  and  what 
a  revelation  of  human  power  and  wisdom  his  service 
to  the  nation! 

You  have  heard  a  great  deal  about  his  "limited 
education."  Yet  he  had  an  education  to  be  envied, 
and  the  hard  labor  and  privations  he  was  obliged  to 
endure  in  his  youth  contributed  to  it.  It  is  not  alone 
a  question  of  schools,  teachers  and  books,  but  rather 
a  year  by  year  process  of  development  from  the  first 
breath  of  life  until  the  last.  It  was  in  that  manner 
that  Lincoln  acquired  his  education.  He  was  a  student 
all  his  life,  and  in  his  later  years  he  had  opportunities 
for  learning  that  probably  never  were  equalled  before 
or  since.  He  saw  the  greatest  experiment  of  the  ages 
in  popular  government  working  out  before  him  under 
the  severest  test,  and  he  was  literally  forced  into 
the  study  and  observance  of  its  every  detail.  In  the 
same  manner  he  was  obliged  to  study  human  nature; 
he  had  to  study  everything  in  its  broadest  sense,  and 
in  addition  to  all  that,  there  was  the  inspiration  of 
the  natural  student  within  him.  What  could  a  mere 
school  have  taught  Lincoln  that  would  have  compared 
with  what  he  taught  the  world. ^ 

The  matchless  monosyllables  of  his  short  and 
simple  speech  at  the  dedication  of  the  site  of  the 
battle  of  Gettysburg  are  so  fixed  in  the  memory  of 

J^5 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

the  nation  and  of  the  world  as  to  have  a  historic 
eminence  co-ordinate  with  that  of  the  battle  itself. 

That  such  an  utterance  should  stand  for  all  time, 
as  a  source  of  patriotic  inspiration  to  generation  after 
generation  of  Americans,  is  matter  for  profound  grati- 
fication. It  expresses  with  a  noble  simplicity  the  ideal 
of  the  nation;  it  is  filled  with  a  solemn  sense  of  what 
the  preservation  of  this  nation  and  its  ideals  means 
not  only  to  ourselves  and  to  the  present  time,  but  to 
all  the  world  and  to  future  ages. 

From  the  first  word  to  the  last  this  thought,  this 
feeling  animates  Lincoln's  utterances.  To  have  con- 
veyed so  lofty  a  conception  of  our  country's  destiny, 
of  its  part  in  the  shaping  of  the  destinies  of  the  world, 
without  the  faintest  trace  of  national  vaingloriousness, 
is  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  of  all  the  remarkable 
qualities  of  the  Gettysburg  address. 

This  address  holds  a  permanent  place  among  the 
treasures  of  the  English  tongue,  and  among  the  ora- 
torical masterpieces  of  all  time.  Few  oral  utterances 
in  any  language  can  bear  comparison  with  it  for 
perfection  of  form  or  for  moving  quality,  and  it  is 
interesting  to  know  that  its  living  words  have  been 
carved  on  the  stone  mantel  in  the  hall  of  one  of  the 
colleges  of  Oxford  University  as  an  illustration  of 
pure  English. 

The  remaining  veterans  of  the  Civil  War  are  pass- 
ing away  very  rapidly,  still  the  government  pays  out 
in  pensions  every  year  more  than  the  Balkan  War* 
has  cost  the  allies.  For  what  we  pay  in  pensions  we 
could  maintain  a  much  greater  army  than  Germany 

*1912 

J^6 


QUEEN   AND    CRESCENT 

groans  under.  Our  Civil  War  is  costing  us,  in  pensions, 
more  than  the  wars  of  the  world.  It  grows  bigger 
rather  than  less  every  day. 

But  the  Civil  War  meant  more  than  battle.  When 
Lee  surrendered  at  Appomattox  each  person  then  living 
in  the  United  States  had  on  his  or  her  shoulders  a 
Federal  debt  of  about  eighty  dollars.  Today  each 
inhabitant's  share  of  interest  bearing  debt  is  approxi- 
mately ten  dollars.  At  the  earlier  date  two-thirds  of 
all  Government  debt  paid  six  per  cent,  interest,  and 
now  over  two-thirds  pays  only  two  per  cent. 

Thus,  measured  by  the  yearly  debt  burden,  each 
American  in  1865  carried  about  twenty -four  times  as 
much  as  he  does  today. 

The  wheat  which  is  consumed  in  a  year  by  each 
person  in  the  United  States  is  now  worth  very  little 
more  than  what  it  cost  every  individual  to  pay  his 
share  of  interest  on  the  national  debt  when  Andrew 
Johnson  became  President. 


And  at  that  period  war  stories  were  the  fashion. 
Here  is  a  specimen:  A  veteran  had  a  comrade  to 
dinner  at  his  home,  and  to  the  exclusion  of  every- 
thing else  they  talked  their  soldier  experiences,  the 
little  boy  of  the  family  listening  with  wide-eyed 
interest.  After  dinner  he  was  ordered  to  bed,  but 
begged  to  be  allowed  to  listen  a  little  longer.  After 
a  while  he  was  told  to  say  good  night  and  go.  He 
said,  "All  right.  Daddy,  I'll  go  if  you'll  only  tell  me 
one  thing.  Didn't  you  and  Captain  Brown  have 
nobody  else  at  all  to  help  you  put  down  that  rebellion  .^^ " 

^7 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

Here  is  another:  An  old  soldier,  who  really  had  a 
fine  military  record,  but  whose  imagination  got  away 
with  him  at  times,  was  telling  a  crowd  of  an  army 
adventure.  "There  was  a  nest  of  rebs  on  one  side 
of  a  river,"  he  said,  "and  we  was  on  the  other.  We 
had  to  dislodge  'em.  There  wasn't  but  one  way  to 
do  it,  and  that  was  to  swim  the  river  and  get  at  'em. 
So  we  stripped  off  our  clothes,  laid  'em  on  the  bank 
and  jumped  into  the  ragin'  torrent.  It  was  a  hard 
swim,  but  we  made  it.  Just  as  I  was  climbin'  up  the 
bank  on  the  other  side  I  saw  a  Johnny  Reb  jump  up 
out  of  the  brush.  Quicker  than  thought  I  pulled  my 
revolver  out  of  my  hip  pocket  and  covered  him  and 
told  him  to  surrender  or  die." 

"Look  here.  Uncle  Bill,"  said  a  bystander,  "a 
minute  ago  you  said  that  you  stripped  all  your  clothes 
off  and  laid  'em  on  the  bank  and  swam  that  stream. 
What  I  want  to  know  is,  if  you  hadn't  any  clothes  on 
when  you  climbed  up  that  bank,  how  could  you  pull 
that  revolver  out  of  your  hip  pocket  .f^" 

Bill  eyed  him  solemnly  for  a  moment  and  then 
said:  "That  may  seem  like  a  natural  question  for  a 
young  cub  who  never  saw  no  war  to  ask,  but  I  want  to 
tell  you  that  a  soldier  learned  to  carry  his  hip  pocket 
with  him,  no  matter  whether  he  had  any  clothes  on 
or  not."  *     *     *     * 

It  was  Artemus  Ward  who  declared  that  the  Re- 
bellion must  be  put  down  even  if  all  of  his  wife's 
relatives  had  to  go  to  the  front. 

*     *     *     * 

Colonel  Schoonmaker  tells  the  following  anecdote: 
A  handsome  young  soldier  lay  in  the  last  agony  upon 

Jf8 


QUEEN    AND    CRESCENT 

a   battlefield.     To   the   friend   bending   over  him   he 
murmured,  hoarsely: 

"Tell  Caroline  my  last  thoughts  were  of  her.  Say 
I  died  with  her  portrait  pressed  to  my  lips." 

He  gulped  and  added: 

"Tell   Minnie   and   Grace   and   Harriet   the   same 

thing." 

*     *     *     * 

The  Civil  War  brought  into  use  a  vocabulary  of 
its  own,  which  for  a  long  time  had  quite  a  vogue. 
Nothing  of  this  vocabulary  survives  today  in  usage. 
"Shoddy,"  "Skedaddle,"  "Copperhead"  are  words 
that  carry  no  meaning  in  1913  save  to  the  historically 
minded  who  have  come  across  them  in  their  reading. 

"  Shoddy  "  was  a  highly  spiced  synonym  for  "  sham." 
It  had  its  origin  in  the  great  fortunes  army  contractors 
made  in  supplying  the  Government  with  garments 
made  of  "shoddy"  at  the  price  of  good  cloth.  By 
1863  this  business  had  been  checked,  if  not  stopped, 
and  if  the  Government  was  not  always  getting  what 
it  paid  for  it  was  not  being  cheated  so  badly  as  it  had 
been  in  the  earlier  days  of  the  war.  The  stories  told 
by  veterans  of  "shoddy"  overcoats,  and  shoes  made 
of  queer  substance,  which,  whatever  it  was,  was  not 
leather,  were  only  too  true. 

To  "Skedaddle"  meant  to  run  away  as  fast  as 
your  legs  could  carry  you.  It  was  used  to  describe 
the  degeneration  of  a  retreat  into  panic  flight. 

But  of  all  words  coined  during  the  war  "Copper- 
head" was  the  term  most  galling  to  persons  who  were 
its  objectives.  The  "copperhead"  is  a  poisonous  snake, 

^9 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

which,  unHke  the  rattler  gives  no  notice  of  its  inten- 
tion to  strike.  Northern  soldiers  bestowed  the  name 
copperhead  on  those  militant  opponents  of  Lincoln 
who  antagonized  him,  not  simply  because  he  was  a 
Republican,  but  because  he  was  trying  to  overcome 
the  rebellion,  and  it  was  applied  to  all  peace-at-any- 

price  Democrats. 

*     *     *     * 

The  phrase  "carpet-bagger"  came  into  use  in  the 
South  during  the  early  reconstruction  period  follow- 
ing the  Civil  War.  A  carpet  bag  was  just  a  bag  made 
of  ordinary  carpeting  which  was  used  fifty  years  ago 
precisely  as  a  leather  bag  is  to-day.  Who  coined  the 
historical  political  phrase  out  of  "carpetbag"  we 
cannot  tell.  Office-seeking  northerners  going  south 
to  help  govern  that  section  were  called  "Carpet- 
baggers "  by  the  southern  people  because  about  all  they 
took  south  was  easily  contained  in  their  carpetbags. 

Note,  1915:  *     *     *     * 

The  outbreak  of  the  great  war  in  Europe  meant 
the  inevitable  cessation  of  interest  in  many  other 
things,  and  this  manuscript  w^'itten  in  1912-'13  and 
'14  was  put  aside.  In  reading  it  over,  and  particularly 
the  foregoing  reference  to  the  Civil  War,  I  am  reminded 
of  the  answer  the  southern  negro  made  when  asked 
if  the  European  war  had  affected  the  people  of  the 
South : 

"Yes,  sah.  Powerfully,  sah!  Dere's  Cunnel  Sharp, 
foh  example,  sah,  him  dat  used  to  tell  about  de  time 
in  de  rebellion  when  he  smit  a  thousand  Yankees  in 
one  day.    Dat  was  some  rem'niscence  sah;    but  since 

50 


QUEEN    AND    CRESCENT 

dis  wah  stahted  he  dun  mixed  sech  a  lot  of  Turcos 
an'  Belgians  an'  Cossacks  in  dat  story  dat  yo'  can 
hardly  unfathom  it.  Ah  tells  yo'  de  wah  in  Europe 
hab  suttenly  'dulterated  our  wah  stories,  sah." 

Possibly  in  this  sense  some  of  my  comments  have 
been  rendered  out  of  date  by  this  war. 


51 


B 


LETTER  III 

QUEEN   AND    CRESCENT 

(Continued) 

UT  I  have  wandered  away  from  the  Queen  and 
Crescent  R.  R.     , 


The  Superintendent  of  Motive  Power  was  a 
Kentucky  Irishman  and  a  very  devout  Roman 
Cathohc.  Yes,  he  was,  the  merry  old  soul!  One  day 
after  a  good  square  meal  (and  he  loved  the  pleasures 
of  the  table)  he  looked  across  at  me  and  said,  "By 
the  Eternal,  Billy,  why  didn't  you  remind  me  this 
was  Friday?" 

I  remembered  this.  He  was  very  fond  of  a  steak 
smothered  with  fresh  mushrooms,  and  next  time  we 
were  at  lunch  together  on  a  fast  day,  I  waited  till  the 
smoking  hot  and  inviting  dish  was  in  front  of  him, 
and  then  said,  "Now  Uncle  Jim,  don't  jump  on  me; 
I  want  to  tell  you  beforehand  this  is  Friday."  He 
looked  at  me  with  his  fork  still  poised  in  the  air,  a 
juicy  morsel  of  steak  on  the  end  of  it,  and  said,  "  You 
think  you're  God  damn  smart,  don't  you.^"  But 
that  fork  delivered  its  freight  just  the  same,  and  for- 
ever after  at  meals  on  Friday,  in  the  classic  language 
of  Elbert  Hubbard,  the  bull  was  always  sent  to  the 
stockyards.  *     *     *     * 

The  General  Superintendent,  a  man  of  marked 
ability,  was  also  a  modern  Vicar  of  Bray.     He  wore 

52 


QUEEN   AND    CRESCENT 

a  large  and  many  colored  masonic  charm,  so  adjusted 
that  it  could  be  slipped  inside  his  waistcoat  or  dis- 
played outside  as  the  occasion  required.  He  was, 
barring  certain  habits,  a  splendid  illustration  of  the 
self-made  man.  He  had  acquired  a  good  deal  of 
polish  and  a  wonderful  fund  of  general  knowledge. 
He  was  a  native  of  Kilkenny,  Ireland,  that  home  of 
the  two  cats  of  legend,  that  "scratched  and  fit  and 
growled  and  bit."  He  came  here  as  a  poor  boy, 
served  four  years  in  the  Union  Army,  and  went  to 
work  as  a  brakeman  after  being  mustered  out. 

He  always  had  a  keen  eye  on  his  operating  cost 
and  promptly  laid  off  crews  and  track  men  whenever 
he  could  help  his  payroll.  They  said  of  him  that  he 
went  to  the  funeral  of  an  old  yardmaster,  and  when 
the  six  pallbearers  came  out  carrying  the  coffin  he 
raised  his  hand  and  absent-mindedly  said:  "Hold  on, 
boys!  you  can  get  along  without  two  of  them." 

*     *     *     * 

He  was  one  of  the  most  picturesque  swearologists* 
ever  heard  in  action.  When  peeved  he  by  no  means 
confined  himself  to  "tut,  tut";  he  swore  with  the 
greatest  ease  and  pungency.  Of  course,  the  proper 
function  of  bad  language  is  to  sustain  and  comfort 
mankind  in  the  minor  ills  of  life.  In  the  presence  of 
anything  like  a  great  crisis  it  is  superfluous  and 
inadequate,  although  everybody  loves  Farragut  for 
"damning  the  torpedoes."  And  it  makes  one's  blood 
tingle  whenever  one  calls  to  mind  that  wholly  unprint- 
able monosyllable  with  which  the  French  Captain  at 
Waterloo  replied  to  the  English  officer  who  called 
upon  him  to  surrender. 

♦Even  the  late  John  C.  Gault,  and  Mr.  F.  D.  Underwood  not  excepted. 

53 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

Cursing  and  swearing,  however,  need  be  put  neither 
among  the  sins  nor  among  the  virtues.  They  may 
be  an  elaboration,  even  a  vice  of  language;  they  are 
scarcely  a  vice  of  the  heart.  Uncle  Toby,  immortalized 
in  Tristram  Shandy,  remarks:  "We  curse  nowadays, 
it  seems,  not  in  order  to  call  down  magic  punishment 
on  our  enemies  but  to  exercise  our  color-sense  in 
words. "  Swearing  of  this  kind  is  in  the  nature  of  a 
gesture  rather  than  of  an  oath.  We  think  of  Ajax 
defying  the  lightning,  of  Friar  Tuck  with  his  mingled 
monk's  patter  and  profanity.  It  is  an  attempt  to 
elevate  prose  above  dullness,  to  keep  language  from 
falling  asleep.  ^     ^     ^     ^ 

When  it  came  to  dallying  with  the  truth,  it  would 
have  been  folly  to  back  Munchausen,  or  even  Ananias 
of  odious  memory,  against  him  in  a  competition.  Un- 
doubtedly he  sprang  from  the  regions  of  the  joyful 
lie.  Probably  not  since  the  Father  of  Lies  first  opened 
his  shop  and  began  business — not  since  these  majestic 
liars  of  history  has  there  been  a  man  to  rise  to  such 
heights  of  splendid  mendacity.  He  could  meekly  put 
forward  a  triumph  of  a  lie;  a  master  lie;  a  lie,  my 
lords,  that  puts  truth,  the  blundering  dolt,  to  shame. 
Never  a  crude  lie,  but  a  smooth,  gentle,  insinuating 
statement,  that  would  spread  until  it  permeated  the 
whole,  and  imparted  to  it  its  own  shade  and  color.  He 
attained  an  eminence  in  the  art  which  can  never  be 
taken  from  him — his  glory  can  never  fade. 

*     *      *     * 

In  all  my  experience  he  was  only  even  approached 
by  a  certain  Division  Superintendent  on  the  Baltimore 


QUEEN   AND    CRESCENT 

and  Ohio  Railroad  in  later  years.  This  deeply  religious 
person,  however,  was  simply  an  amateur  in  com- 
parison. His  lies  could  not  always  be  classified  among 
the  harmless  economies  of  the  truth  upon  which  the 
very  existence  of  our  daily  life  seems  to  be  so  largely 
based.  They  were  glaring  prevarications.  He  did 
not  hesitate  to  put  the  most  barefaced  lies  in  writing, 
which  was  a  trifle  clumsy,  to  say  the  least.  So  awk- 
ward was  he  that  on  one  occasion  a  grievance  com- 
mittee of  trainmen  called  on  me  and  presented  a 
complaint  that  they  could  not  believe  a  ivord  he  said! 
This  man  loved  and  believed  his  Bible,  but  he  could 
have  little  realized  the  punishment  of  Ananias. 

Some  one  has  asked  whether  the  habit  of  indulging 
in  lying  is  hereditary.  In  some  instances,  perhaps, 
but  I  have  heard  men  whose  ability  could  only  have 
been  acquired  throughout  a  number  of  years  of  long 
assiduous  practice  and  careful  attention  to  detail. 
I  suppose  anybody  who  keeps  at  it  as  persistently  as 
this  superintendent  did  could  become  a  pretty  good 
liar  in  time.     Rome  was  not  built  in  a  day. 

*     *     *     * 

The  oversized  imagination  of  youth  is  something 
quite  different  and  it  is  frequently  delightful.  It 
must  be  mildly  checked,  however,  lest  it  develop  into 
decided  prevarication.  Mrs.  Brown,  whose  memory 
was  a  little  rusty,  solemnly  called  her  young  daughter 
and  said: 

"Margaret,  do  you  remember  what  happened  to 
those  children  in  the  Bible  who  told  stories  —  how 
the  big  bears  came  out  of  the  woods  and  ate  them 
all  up.?" 

55 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

"Oh  yes,  Mamma,"  said  Margaret,  with  goose- 
flesh  shivers,  "I  remember,  wasn't  it  dreadful!  And 
I'm  not  going  to  tell  another  story  as  long  as  I  live, 
because,  mamma,  would  you  believe  it  —  only  yester- 
day when  I  was  playing  in  the  back  yard  a  great, 
big,  black  bear  came  out  from  under  the  currant 
bushes  in  the  garden  and  bit  me  right  on  the  knee." 

*     *     *     * 

There  is  also  the  kindly — shall  we  say  the  justifiable 
lie.  You  will  recall  how  Dickens  described  that  when 
Martin  Chuzzlewit  was  cast  out  by  Pecksniff  in  a 
pouring  rain  he  was  handed  a  little  book  by  Tom 
Pinch,  and  that  when  a  little  later  Martin  opened  the 
book  to  whet  his  rage  generally  for  mankind,  he  found 
a  little  piece  of  money,  not  much,  but  Tom's  all, 
wrapped  in  a  piece  of  paper  wherein  it  was  written 
that  he  should  not  know  what  to  do  with  it  if  he 
had  it,  and  begging  Martin  to  accept  it. 

"There  are  some  falsehoods,  Tom,"  says  Dickens, 
"on  which  men  mount  as  on  bright  wings  toward 
heaven.  There  are  some  truths,  cold,  bitter,  taunt- 
ing truths  wherein  your  worldly  scholars  are  very 
apt  and  punctual,  which  bind  men  down  with  leaden 
chains.  Who  would  not  have  to  fan  him  in  his  dying 
hour  the  lightest  feather  of  a  falsehood  such  as  thine 
than  all  the  quills  that  have  been  plucked  from  the 
sharp  porcupine  reproachful  truth,  since  the  world 
began."  ^     ^     ^     ^ 

Somebody  told  a  story  in  the  Maryland  Club  about 
three  or  four  young  naval  officers  who  were  dining 
together  at  a  restaurant.     The  conversation   became 

56 


QUEEN    AND    CRESCENT 

a  discussion  on  lies  and  lying  generally,  and  finally 
there  was  a  warm  debate  as  to  who  was  the  biggest 
liar  known  to  them.  An  old  gentleman  sitting  at  a 
table  near  was  unable  to  avoid  overhearing  the  dis- 
cussion, and  after  a  few  minutes  he  arose  and  came 
over  to  their  table. 

"I  have  just  heard  you  decide,  gentlemen,"  he 
said  gravely,  "that  Captain  Arthur  Blank  is  the 
biggest  liar  you  have  ever  met.     I  am  his  father." 

After  a  few  seconds'  embarrassed  silence,  one  of 
the  young  officers  began  to  stammer  apologies,  but 
the  old  gentleman  waived  them  aside. 

"No,  no,"  he  said,  "don't  apologize.  It's  quite 
unnecessary.  I  was  only  going  to  say  that  if  you 
regard  my  son  Arthur  as  the  biggest  liar  you  have 
met,  you  cannot  possibly  have  met  my  other  son, 
Richard." 

Richard  must  have  been  a  star,  but  for  "real  classy" 
work  I  wouldn't  have  risked  a  nickel  on  him  as  against 
my  old  friend.  The  latter  ought  to  have  been  in  the 
Traffic  Department;  he  would  have  made  a  record 
attending  rate  meetings.  The  supremacy  of  even  the 
Big  Four  in  that  line  would  have  been  rudely  shaken. 

*     *     *     * 

Speaking  of  the  Maryland  Club,  I  happened  to  be 
sitting  there  one  evening  enjoying  with  my  friend 
the  late  Colonel  Lewis  N.  Hopkins  (a  nephew  of  the 
founder  of  that  great  Baltimore  institution  which 
bears  the  name  of  Hopkins)  a  mild  decoction  of 
whiskey  and  water.  At  a  near  but  not  immediately 
adjoining  table  the  party  included  a  certain  person 
who  was  speaking  and  laughing  in  so  loud  a  voice 

57 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

that  he  could  be  heard  all  over  the  room.  Once  or 
twice  the  Colonel  looked  in  the  direction  of  that 
table,  but  said  nothing.  Just  as  we  were  raising  our 
glasses  and  smiling  at  each  other  the  loud  voice  rang 
out  again.  Suddenly  Colonel  Hopkins  lowered  his 
glass  and  looking  me  sternly  in  the  eye,  said,  "William, 
how  do  you  suppose  a  creature  like  that  was  ever 
elected  to  membership  in  this  Club?" 

It  is  only  fair  to  the  Club  to  say  that  the  "creature" 
was  a  guest,  not  a  member. 

He  mentioned  no  names  and  neither  do  I. 

*     *     *     * 

The  General  Superintendent  had  a  favorite  story 
and  he  enjoyed  telling  it.  I  suppose  it  must  have 
appealed  to  his  Irish  sense  of  humor.  He  made  a 
trip  to  Florida  and  going  over  the  old  Savannah, 
Florida  and  Western  Railroad,  when  the  conductor 
came  back  to  his  car  to  check  the  transportation, 
the  G.  S.  with  true  railroad  instinct  said,  "Captain, 
let  me  see  your  time  card."  Among  the  special  notes 
in  large  type  he  found  this: 

"Number  One  will  not  run  on  Sundays,  but  if 
Number  One  should  run,  other  trains  must  keep  out 
of  her  2vay.''*  ^     ^     ^     ^ 

That  was  his  champion  joke  and  he  had  scores  of 
them. 

Here  is  another.  An  Irish  section  boss  asked  the 
Station  Agent,  "How  is  Number  One.^" 

"Thirty  minutes  late." 

Thereupon  Mike  started  for  the  next  station.  But 
Number   One   had   made   up   most   of   the   time    and 

*The  italics  are  minf . 

58 


QUEEN    AND    CRESCENT 

found  Mike  and  his  hand-car  on  a  high  fill  between 
stations.  He  and  his  men  rolled  off  and  saved  them- 
selves. When  the  train  got  stopped  Mike  went  up 
to  the  engineman  and  shaking  his  fist  indignantly, 
said,  "Phwat  in  the  hell  were  ye  doin'  on  my  timef' 

*     *     *     * 

In  the  General  Superintendent's  outside  office, 
there  was  a  boy,  Irish,  of  course,  who  was  a  proto- 
type of  Samuel  Lover's  Handy  Andy.  A  gentleman 
called  at  the  office  and  asked  if  the  General  Superin- 
tendent was  in. 

"Yes  sir,"  answered  the  boy. 

"Well,  I  would  like  to  see  him,"  said  the  caller. 

"Do  you  wish  to  see  him  personally,  or  on  busi- 
ness.'' 

"I  wish  to  see  him  personally.'' 

"Then,  what  is  it  you  want.'^" 

*     *     *     * 

That  boy  was  like  Pat  Dillon.  During  the  old 
Carnegie  Steel  days  Mr.  P.  R.  Dillon*  had  been 
Purchasing  Agent,  but  retired  before  the  consoli- 
dation. During  the  construction  of  the  Farmers' 
National  Bank  building  in  Pittsburgh  he  was  em- 
ployed to  supervise  the  work  on  behalf  of  the  owners. 
A  new  engineer  for  the  contractors  came  on  the  job, 
and  finding  this  old  fellow  prowling  about  challenged 
him,  "Who  are  you  and  what  do  you  want  around 
this  work.?"  "Who  am  I.?"  said  Pat,  "I'll  show  you 
who  I  am  around  here.     Fm  the  whole  thing.'' 

Dillon  is  a  character.  He  was  walking  along  the 
platform  at  Broad  Street  Station,  Philadelphia,  and 
the  porter  from  a  private  car  hailed  him  and  said, 

*Obiit  1916. 

59 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

"Mr.  Schwab  wants  to  see  you."  Schwab  was  then 
President  of  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation. 
Pat  got  aboard  and  proceeded  to  regale  Charley,  as 
he  called  him,  with  the  Pittsburgh  news.  During  a 
lull  in  the  conversation  he  said,  "Do  you  know, 
Charley,  some  of  them  byes  that  went  over  to  New 
York  are  trotting  a  pretty  fasht  clip.^  There's  Blank 
and  Blank  and  Blank,  they're  gambling  and  sporting 
and  kicking  up  all  sorts  of  didoes." 

"Tush,  tush,  it's  quite  out  of  place  to  speak  before 
me  like  that;"  said  Schw^ab,  "it's  outrageous.  Why, 
the  first  thing  you  know  people  will  be  speaking  like 
that  about  me." 

"Oh,  begorra,  don't  you  fool  yourself,  Charley," 
said  Dillon,  "we  all  knoio  it  about  3^ou." 

*     *     *     * 

There  was  one  division  superintendent  on  the 
Queen  and  Crescent,  who  was  quite  representative  of 
his  class  at  that  period.  He  and  I  were  in  the  chart 
room  working  on  a  new  time  card.  The  door  opened 
about  a  foot  wide,  and  there  appeared  in  the  space 
the  face  of  a  freight  conductor  who  had  been  laid 
off  a  week  or  ten  days  before,  but  no  action  taken 
in  the  case.  The  superintendent  glared  at  the  man, 
adjusted  a  large  chew  of  fine  cut  in  his  mouth  and 
said,  "Who  in  the  blank  damnation  sent  for  you.^" 
and  calmly  resumed  driving  pins  on  the  board. 

The  man  was  not  even  given  a  chance  to  speak; 
and  people  wonder  why  labor  unions  with  their 
grievance   committees   were   forced   into   existence. 

I  am  strongly  tempted  to  speak  of  the  change  in 
the  standard  of  the  railroad  division  official  of  today 

60 


QUEEN    AND    CRESCENT 

as  compared  with  his  predecessor  of  the  late  seventies 
and  early  eighties,  but  that  has  no  place  here,  and 
then  it  would  of  necessity  involve  a  discussion  of  the 
railroad  employe  of  then  and  now  and  there  w^ould  be 
no  end  to  it.  Anyhow  I  shall  refer  to  that  general  sub- 
ject later  on.  ^     ^     ^     ^ 

The  Comptroller  of  the  road  was  a  Scotsman  and 
he  was  a  gentleman  in  all  that  the  word  in  its  best 
sense  means,  by  training,  by  accomplishment,  by  his 
daily  walk  and  conversation.  He  had  an  unusual 
command  of  figures  and  statistics  and  was  the  only 
man  I  have  known  who  could  add  three  columns  of 
figures  at  once  and  give  the  total  as  quickly  as  an 
ordinary  person  could  add  one  column. 

*     *     *     * 

The  chief  engineer  was  a  French  Creole,  and  a 
graduate  of  L'Ecole  Polytechnique. 

The  general  superintendent  was  a  good  deal  of 
a  wag  and  one  evening  was  holding  forth  to  this 
gentleman  on  the  ridiculous  character  of  French  duels, 
then  very  common.  "Why,"  said  he,  "two  Frenchmen 
get  out  on  the  'Chumps  Eliza,'  at  sunrise,  with  a 
bunch  of  bottle-holders  and  referees  and  a  few  doctors, 
and  then  the  candidates  go  at  each  other  with  darn- 
ing needles,  and  as  soon  as  one  fellow  is  touched 
'honor  is  satisfied,'  and  the  crowd  loses  a  night's 
sleep  for  nothing.  If  they  want  to  fight  why  don't 
they  meet  like  Allen  and  Goss,*  with  bare  knuckles, 
or  better  still  with  double  barrelled  shotguns  at  two 
paces,  and  get  some  action.^" 

*  This  reference  was  to  a  prize  fight  some  years  before. 

61 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

"Ah,  mon  Dieu,"  said  the  chief  engineer,  "what 
a  country!     Are  all  Americans  barbarians  like  you?" 

This  gentleman  raised  his  voice  against  the  change  of 
gauge  on  the  railroads  south  of  the  Ohio  River  in  1883. 

*     *     *     * 

The  railroad  had  a  bad  wreck  on  a  high  fill  near 
Mason,  Ky.  The  northbound  night  express  was 
derailed,  the  rear  sleeper  became  detached,  rolled 
down  the  embankment,  caught  fire,  and  was  com- 
pletely destroyed,  happily  not  before  all  the  pas- 
sengers had  escaped.  The  railway  company  stood 
ready  to  pay  for  the  sleeper — the  "Pennsylvania" — 
subject  to  the  usual  deduction  as  provided  by  Master 
Car  Builders'  rules,  but  the  Pullman  Company  pre- 
sented a  bill  for  the  full  first  cost  of  the  car. 

A  long  correspondence  followed  with  no  result  and 
finally  a  conference  was  arranged,  the  railway  com- 
pany being  represented  by  its  president,  and  the 
car  company  by  Mr.  George  F.  Brown.  There  was 
also  present  Mr.  Edgar  Johnson  of  the  law  firm  of 
*Hoadley,  fHarmon,  Johnson  and  Colston,  counsel 
for  the  Road. 

Brown,  who  had  a  very  bad  stutter,  held  on  to  his 
manifestly  untenable  position,  and  Johnson,  a  most 
profane  person,  stormed  and  swore  and  gave  Brown 
little  chance  to  speak.  Finally  he  got  a  word  in, 
and  said,  "You  must  g-g-go  s-s-slow;  you  m-must 
listen  to  reason,  m-mmv  k-k-kind  Christian  friend." 

"Oh,  kind  Christian  friend  be  damned,"  scorn- 
fully answered  Johnson;    "I'm  a  Jew." 

*  Afterwards  Governor  of  Ohio. 

t  Afterwards  Attorney-General  of  the  United  States,  and  twice  Governor  of  Ohio. 

(}2 


QUEEN   AND    CRESCENT 

As  the  royal  game  of  golf  was  not  in  vogue*  then, 
this  profanity  was,  of  course,  quite  inexcusable. 

*     *     *     * 

Johnson  was  an  able  lawyer  and  a  very  witty  and 
generous  man.  He  had  made  out  a  bill  for  a  client 
charging  one  thousand  dollars  for  certain  services 
the  firm  had  rendered.  He  showed  it  to  Hoadley 
who  shook  his  head,  took  up  a  pen  and  added  another 
cipher  making  the  bill  ten  thousand,  and  mailed  it. 
A  check  for  that  amount  was  promptly  received  and 
when  Johnson  saw  it,  he  turned  to  his  partner  and 
said,  "Hoadley,  almost  thou  persuadest  me  to  be  a 
Christian." 

Somebody  twitted  Johnson  about  a  rascally  Jew 
in  Cincinnati,  saying  that  was  a  nice  specimen  of  the 
race.  Johnson  said,  "Yes  he  was,  but  they  had 
made  a  mistake  in  his  case;  they  cut  him  too  loiv.  When 
he  was  cut  they  ought  to  have  cut  his  throat. " 

In  those  days  the  Ohio  Legislature  was  alleged 
to  be  more  or  less  corrupt,  and  reference  was  made 
to  members  repeatedly  succeeding  themselves.  Some- 
body said  to  Johnson,  "Don't  you  think  it  would 
be  a  good  thing  if  our  legislators  were  limited  to  one 

"That  would  depend,"  he  said,  "on  where  the  term 
was  to  be  served."     ^     ^     ^^     ^ 

Another  Johnson  story  is  of  the  successful  political 
candidate  who  in  returning  thanks  to  his  constituents 
said : 

"Gentlemen,  I  thank  you  for  your  support,  and  I 
thank  especially  the  twenty-three  gentlemen  icho  formed 
my  majority.'^ 

*Golf  made  its  appearance  in  this  conntry  about  1887. 

63 


LETTER  IV 

QUEEN    AND    CRESCENT 

(Continued) 

AS  a  matter  of  fact  our  Hebrew  fellow-citizens 
r^L  understand  us  much  better  than  we  under- 
J.  V  stand  them.  They  see  us  with  X-Rays.  They 
think  us  easy.  So  Joe  Moses  told  me.  He  says  they 
wonder  where  "these  Shaggits  get  all  the  money  we 
take  from  them."  There  is  a  copy  of  the  Talmud  in 
the  library.    Dig  it  out  and  read  it. 

*     *     *     * 

About  one-fifth  of  the  Jews  of  the  world  are  to  be 
found  in  the  United  States,  and  about  half  of  that 
number  reside  in  New  York  City.  In  the  directory  of 
New  York  City  the  commonest  name,  of  course,  is 
Smith.  But  what  do  you  think  runs  it  a  close  second.'* 
Cohen.  And  Levy  is  not  far  behind.  They  own  New 
York.  Why  not.^  They  know  a  good  thing.  Accord- 
ing to  statistics  they  are  a  most  orderly  part  of  the 
populace  in  every  country  in  the  world  where  they 
are  found  and  where  are  they  not  found  .^  It  is  said 
that  few  of  the  race  are  to  be  found  in  our  peni- 
tentiaries. Possibly  they  are  too  smart  to  be  caught, 
but  one  thing  is  certain,  not  many  of  them  are 
recipients  of  Gentile  charity.  It  is  also  certain  that 
there  is  not  a  profession,  not  an  occupation  that  is 


QUEEN   AND    CRESCENT 

closed  to  them;    and  it  must  be  recognized  that  they 

are  eminent  in  all. 

*     *     *     * 

Caste  prejudice  or  race  feeling  or  whatever  that  not 
easily  defined  emotion  may  be,  is  strangely  ingrained  in 
American  men,  much  more  so  than  in  Englishmen; 
and  right  or  wrong,  the  impression  does  cling  among  us 
that  the  expression  "Jewish  gentleman"  is  almost  a 
contradiction  in  term.  Of  course  being  a  gentleman 
is  like  being  a  Jew  —  you  cannot  be  one  unless  you 
are  one;  you  cannot  hope  to  become  one.  You  can- 
not make  a  puddle  duck  into  a  canvas  back  by  calling 
it  one. 

Take  our  higher  grade  schools,  like  Groton,  St. 
Mark's  or  St.  Paul's,  the  American  equivalents  of 
Eton,  Charterhouse,  Winchester  or  Rugby,  and  how 
many  Jewish  boys  do  we  find  in  them.^  I  suppose 
you  would  find  ten  Jews  in  Eton  for  every  one  in 
Groton,  and  the  same  relative  proportion  would  prob- 
ably hold  in  the  British  and  United  States  armies. 

With  the  exception  of  Cincinnati,  we  do  not  find 
Jews  in  what  is  called  society  in  our  larger  cities. 
We  do  not  meet  them  in  New  York  or  Philadelphia 
or  Baltimore  or  Boston  circles.  The  same  is  true 
of  Clubdom.  Be  it  understood  I  simply  note  this  fact 
as  an  observation.  It  is  different  in  London.  In 
England  there  is  no  such  discrimination  on  the  part 
of  society  against  Jews,  such  as  persists  almost  every- 
where on  the  continent  of  Europe  (France  excepted), 
and  among  ourselves.  As  a  matter  of  fact  English 
people,  in  spite  of  what  we  call  their  conventions 
are   really   far   more   democratic  than   we   are,   or  it 

65 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

might,  perhaps,  be  more  accurate  to  say  that  they 
are  much  less  snobbish  than  we  are.  It  is  true  that 
there  may  be  a  mild  eccentricity  in  the  Englishman's 
mental  processes,  and  one  of  its  most  curious  mani- 
festations is  a  tendency  to  self -depreciation.  Lord 
Haldane  says  his  countrymen  lack  "mind."  Just 
what  the  learned  and  noble  lord  means  I  cannot 
say,  but  no  matter  what  his  remark  does  mean  I  do 
not  agree  with  it.  It  sounds  to  me  cant,  pure  and 
simple.  Englishmen,  it  must  be  admitted,  are  con- 
tinually finding  fault  with  themselves  and  with  each 
other,  just  as  Irishmen  love  a  shindy  and  Scotchmen 
metapheesics.  Such  bear  garden  scenes  as  are  so  fre- 
quently enacted  in  the  House  of  Commons  would 
make  an  unsophisticated  Congressman  think  he  was  at 
a  meeting  of  the  Gridiron  Club. 

It  is  an  ancient  habit  of  Englishmen  to  set  a  low 
value  on  themselves  and  it  might  in  some  cases  be 
called,  and  perhaps  not  unjustly,  self-deception.  I 
can  remember  as  a  boy  hearing  old  fellows  saying  that 
the  service  and  the  country  were  going  to  the  bow- 
wows as  if  it  were  certainly  going  to  happen  the  next 
day,  but  they  have  not  gone  yet.  Self  criticism  makes 
for  strength  in  a  people,  but  it  must  not  be  over  done. 
You  can  always  depend  that  an  Englishman  will  take 
for  granted  anything  he  does  well  and  say  nothing 
about  it,  while  he  will  shriek  from  the  housetops 
about  blunders  and  shortcomings.  The  Englishman 
is  decent  and  dauntless,  full  of  assurance  and  strength, 
and  whatever  his  mistakes  they  are  always  made  good. 
England  owes  everything  to  its  daring.  There  are  two 
prerogatives  of  which  you  can  never  deprive  an  English- 
es 


QUEEN   AND    CRESCENT 

man — one  the  passion  for  depreciating  himself,  and 
the  other  the  right  to  abuse  his  government. 

In  England  every  man  with  education  is  recog- 
nized and,  if  he  should  so  desire  and  can  pass  muster 
on  the  social  conventionalities,  he  may  gain  admission 
to  good  society.  The  aristocracy  of  England  absorbs 
all  aristocracies  and  receives  every  man  in  every  order 
and  every  class  who  defers  to  the  principle  of  English 
society,  which  is  to  aspire  and  excel.  Thus  Mr. 
Leopold  Rothschild  is  a  member  of  the  Jockey  Club 
in  Paris  and  of  the  Turf  Club  in  London  among  the 
smartest  and  most  exclusive  clubs  in  the  world  but, 
I  suppose,  under  our  practice  he  wouldn't  be  eligible 
for  the  Maryland  Club  or  the  Duquesne  Club.  This, 
considered  without  prejudice,  does  make  us  look  very 
foolish,  and  narrow  and  provincial,  doesn't  it.^  Still 
I'm  damned  if  I  would  change  our  practice. 

Suppose  we  did  change  it,  who  would  you  suggest  .^^ 
There  are  no  better  citizens  in  this  community  than 
Mr.  Frank  or  Mr.  Klee,  and  in  the  presence  of  the 
profound  scholarship  of  Dr.  Levy  I  stand  in  silence. 
But  these  men  would  probably  spurn  an  invitation 
to  membership  in  institutions  to  which  their  fellows 
would  not  be  generally  received.  My  personal 
acquaintance  is  limited  but  offhand  I  could  name  no 
others  although  there  may  be  many. 

*     *     *     * 

There  is  only  one  test  for  membership  in  a  club* 
and  it  is  simple.  It  is  not  like  a  church.  It  is  this: 
Will  the  election  of  the  candidate  help  to  maintain, 
or  better  still  raise  the  standard  of  membership  even 

*T he  first  club  (in  the  sense  we  now  use  the  term)  was  formed  in  England  in  1670  and  was 
called  the  London  Civil  Club.  Our  first  club  was  formed  in  Philadelphia  in  1833  and  was 
called  the  Wister. 

67 


LETTERS    TO    MY   SON 

to  the  thousandth  part  of  one  per  cent,  or  does  the 
candidate  simply  file  his  application  for  the  selfish 
benefit  the  club  will  be  to  him?  A  fellow  must  "pull 
his  weight"  and  a  little  more,  and  this  is  eternally 
true  in  all  associations  of  men  professional  or  social. 
No  one  should  be  elected  to  a  club  of  ordinary  pre- 
tensions by  any  board  of  governors  other  than  on 
this  principle.  All  clubs  succeed  occasionally  in  elect- 
ing people  whom  they  afterwards  discover  they  would 
be  better  without  and  it  is  a  jug-handle  arrangement 
for  the  club  has  little  recourse.  A  member  can  resign 
at  will. 

So  many  men  are  concerned  about  getting  into 
clubs  when  they  had  better  concern  themselves  about 
their  fitness  for  membership.  One  measure  of  success 
in  a  club  is  its  power  to  make  people  want  to  join  it, 
and  this  seems  to  be  best  preserved  by  keeping  most 
of  them  out. 

If  we  were  to  open  the  doors  of  all  clubs  as  freely 
to  the  Hebrew  brethren  as  we  have  Tnost  iinfortunately 
opened  some  of  them  to  our  own  they  would  become 
as  promiscuous  as  the  Fort  Pitt  Hotel.  We  had  a 
membership  committee  in  the  Duquesne  Club  a  num- 
ber of  years  ago,  and  during  the  year  of  its  existence 
not  a  single  man  was  elected,  not  a  soul.  Departed 
days!     All  honor  to  that  committee.* 

Just  how  these  things  are  arranged  and  handled 
in  England  and  France  I  cannot  tell,  and  it  is  not  easy 
to  say  how  the  proposition  should  be  worked  out 
here  or  how  it  will  be  worked  out.  This  is  another 
of  the  problems  which  can  wait  for  the  upturn  of  the 

*  This  committee  consisted  of  Mr.  Frank  Moore,  Mr.  J.  L.  Dawson  Speer,  Mr.  W.  D.  Uptegraff  and 

a  minority  of  two  others. 

68 


DEAR  OLD  JOE  MOSES 


QUEEN    AND    CRESCENT 

plow  of  time.  It  is  no  part  of  my  mission  on  earth  to 
change  the  world.  I  am  not  a  reformer.  That  calling- 
requires  brains.  I  efface  myself  and  try  to  note  things 
in  a  Boswellian,  and  especially  in  a  chummy  way,  for 
not  much  among  men  has  ever  been  accomplished  at 

long  range. 

*  *     *     * 

There  is,  on  the  other  hand,  the  intolerance  which 
some  Jews  manifest  in  their  relations  to  each  other 
—  men  who  wish  to  forget  their  race  and  conquer  a 
place  at  the  dinner  tables  of  the  Gentiles,  as  the  fol- 
lowing will  illustrate.  The  story  is  told  of  a  young 
Hebrew  lawyer  whose  name,  a  good  many  years  ago, 
was  presented  for  membership  in  a  certain  club,  and 
you  know  the  lawyer  and  the  club.  He  was  invited 
to  meet  some  of  the  governors,  and  made  a  favorable 
impression  and  it  looked  like  he  was  going  to  get 
through,  when  he  remarked  that  in  the  event  of  his 
election  he  would  use  his  best  efforts  to  prevent  the 
admission  of  any  more  of  his  people.  That  settled  it, 
and  he  was  not  elected,  and  neither  have  any  of  his 
people.  That  young  lawyer  rose  to  be  a  distinguished 
member  of  the  bench  and  bar  of  the  county  and 
State  of  which  he  is  a  citizen,  but  the  rule  which 
he   unconsciously    helped    to   establish   has   not   been 

departed  from. 

*  *     *     * 

There  is  one  member  of  the  Hebrew  race  for  whom 
I  shall  always  hold  a  warm  and  deep  regard,  viz.: 
my  dear  old  friend  Joe  Moses  of  Cincinnati.  He 
wTote  me  not  long  ago:  "I  think  your  labor  regard- 
ing  my   welfare   for   the  past   twenty-five  years   has 

69 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

not  been  in  vain.     I  am  a  good  Yehudah  and  a  pretty 
fair  Shaggits.^'  ^     ^     ^     ^ 

I  am  told  that  at  University  College,  London, 
they  have  included  in  their  summer  course  a  series 
of  lectures  on  the  mysteries  of  British  etiquette  for 
the  benefit  of  foreigners  anxious  to  learn  the  English 
language,  English  habits,  conventions,  tastes  and  man- 
ners —  and  racial  distinctions  are  not  thought  of.  With- 
out some  such  guidance  no  foreign  European  can  hope 
to  master  British  taboos.  Such  a  convention  as  that 
forbidding  an  Englishman  to  play  golf  in  shirt  sleeves 
is  not  familiar  to  every  innocent  visitor.  Again,  the 
stranger  does  not  see  why  the  tall  hat  (now  rapidly 
disappearing)  and  morning  coat  should  be  the  mode 
at  Lord's  for  a  University  cricket  match,  and  yet  be 
altogether  out  of  place  for  a  boat  race  at  Henley. 

The  existence  of  such  conventions  reminds  us  that 
the  Englishman,  for  all  his  freedom,  is  much  like  the 
Chinese  Mandarin.  He  walks  fettered  in  all  his 
comings  and  goings  by  customs,  to  violate  which  is 
to  court  social  death,  and  to  find  all  eyes  riveted  dis- 
approvingly upon  him.  No  longer  are  men  judged 
solely  by  their  birth  but  by  their  compliance  with 
the  odd  code  established  by  custom,  and  which  is  the 
more  troublesome  to  strangers  because  it  is  graven  on 
no  tables  of  stone,  and  explained  in  no  learned  treatise. 

Of  course,  it  would  be  the  greatest  mistake  to 
suppose  that  money  alone  will  open  every  door  in 
England,  and  that  it  is  sufficient  to  have  means  in 
order  to  go  where  one  pleases.  This  is  equally  true 
in  these  United  States  in  the  matter  of  private  respect, 

70 


QUEEN    AND    CRESCENT 

but  in  the  matter  of  public  preferment  and  dignity 
wealth  is  a  handicap.  In  England,  on  the  contrary, 
a  Westinghouse,  a  Morgan,  a  Carnegie  or  a  Hill  would 
have  found  themselves  long  ago  in  the  House  of  Lords. 
In  Canada  Lord  Shaughnessy  is  a  case  in  point. 


Lord  Beaconsfield  said,  "An  aristocracy  may  be 
created  by  laws,  but  it  can  only  be  maintained  by 
manners."  From  the  days  of  Epictetus,  Socrates,  and 
Aristotle,  down  to  the  times  of  Lord  Bacon,  Chester- 
field, Burke,  Ruskin,  and  Emerson,  we  find  the  most 
cultivated  men  and  the  finest  wits  of  the  day,  as  well 
as  the  philosophers  of  each  period,  discoursing  upon 
manners,  with  a  high  estimate  of  their  importance. 

It  is  manners  which  divide  our  modern  American 
society  into  sets — from  the  prig  and  the  hopeless  boor 
to  men  and  women  of  grace  and  charm.  One  set  has 
no  breeding  at  all,  another  has  a  little,  another  more, 
another  enough;  and  between  that  which  has  none  and 
that  which  has  enough,  there  are  more  shades  than  in 
the  rainbow;  they  are  endless  as  the  orders  of  nobility  in 
China,  but  unlike  them  incapable  of  definition.  Good 
manners  are  the  same  in  essence  everywhere  —  at 
Courts,  in  fashionable  society,  in  literary  circles  and  in 
domestic  life;  they  never  change,  though  social  observ- 
ances, customs  and  points  of  etiquette  vary  with  the 
age,  and  with  the  people.  Good  taste,  inherent  and 
ingrained,  cannot  alter.  It  is  indestructible;  it  is  a 
compass  that  never  errs.  Simplicity  in  character,  in 
manners,  in  style,  in  all  things;  the  supreme  excellence 
is  simplicity. 

71 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

Good  manners  are  the  fruits  of  a  kind  heart*  and 
careful  home  nurture;  bad  manners  are  the  fruits  of 
a  coarse  nature  and  unwise  training.  Manners  must 
not  be  confounded  with  the  correct  observance  of 
social  laws  which  are  but  arbitrary  rules,  differing 
in  various  ages  and  countries.  These  are  sometimes 
absurd  when  introduced  into  a  land  that  they  were 
not  made  for;  whereas,  good  manners,  founded  as 
they  are  on  common  sense  and  kindliness  of  heart, 
are  always  and  everywhere  the  same.  The  fashion 
of  "good  manners"  never  changes.  I  suppose  good 
manners  are  unselfish,  but  the  most  selfish  people 
might  well  cultivate  them,  they  are  so  remunerative. 
Civility,  polished  manners  mean  much  to  a  youth  in 

his  first  position. 

*     *     *     * 

I  have  in  mind  several  men  whom  I  have  known 
who  "married  money,"  and  what  prejudices  people 
against  them  is  their  tendency  to  talk  about  their 
money  in  a  way  that  is  offensive  to  others.  Good 
manners  depend  on  the  tacit  understanding  of  all 
parties  as  to  their  relations  to  one  another.  Nothing 
can  be  more  brutal  than  for  one  to  claim  superiority 
or  imply  it,  or  more  rude  than  for  another  to  dispute 
the  claim.  Such  things,  if  they  exist,  should  be  taken 
for  granted.  There  exists  among  certain  people  an 
insane  idea  that  one  must  impress  others  in  order  to 
maintain  a  caste  or  a  cult,  and  nothing  is  so  sure  a 
mark  of  an  unarrived  person.  There  is  a  strange 
tendency  of  the  modern  mind — a  predisposition  to 
classify,  but  it  is  altogether  artificial  and  absurd  and 
needless    because    a    man    classifies   himself  at    every 

*  This  is  a  remark  of  your  grandfather. 

72 


QUEEN   AND    CRESCENT 

turn;  by  his  conversation;  by  the  newspapers  he 
reads;  by  his  handwriting;  by  his  socks,  his  neckties. 
One  man  spells  "consensus"  with  a  "c"  in  the  middle 
and  that  marks  him;  another  talks  of  "modern 
science"  and  the  "abolition  of  dogma"  and  that 
marks  him.  Another  will  ask  for  whisky  and  soda 
at  dinner  when  the  butler  is  serving  champagne,  and 
that  marks  him.  I  heard  a  clergyman,  on  a  Christmas 
morning,  above  all  others  the  day  of  Peace  and  Good 
Will,  speak  of  the  "mummery  and  idolatry  of  the 
Catholic  Church"  and  that  marked  him. 

*  *  *  * 
If  you  had  been  successful,  or  honored  in  some 
particular  way,  you  surely  would  not  dwell  upon  the 
fact  to  others  who  had  not  participated.  Certainly 
you  would  not  entertain  a  fellow  who  "flunked  out" 
of  the  University  or  who  never  had  a  chance  to  go 
there  at  all  with  the  information  that  you  were  of  the 
Class  of  '13.  So  many  men  are  apparently  oblivious 
to  the  fact  that  it  is  good  form  among  the  most  refined 
and  educated  people  to  conceal  rather  than  display 
achievement  or  wealth  or  learning,  and  that  they  are 
more  likely  to  make  enemies  than  friends  among  those 
around  them  by  endeavoring  to  impress  other  people 
with  a  sense  of  what  they  have  done  or  expect  to  do. 
For  example,  Mr.  Westinghouse  remarked  to  me  one 
evening  after  dinner  at  his  house  that  the  phonograph 
was  the  most  marvellous  invention  of  the  age.  Just 
think  of  such  modesty,  such  condescension,  such  self- 
abnegation.  *     *     *     * 

We  are  prone  to  cherish  prejudices  against  other 
peoples  and  to  reckon  them  as  inferior  to  ourselves, 

73 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

simply  because  they  are  different.  This  lack  of  dis- 
crimination is  one  of  our  outstanding  national  failings. 
So  many  of  our  people  are  impressed  with  the  belief 
that,  if  a  Republic  and  Democracy  afford  the  perfection 
of  liberty,  then  a  Monarchy  and  Aristocracy  must  of 
necessity  supress  it.  They  have  no  adequate  appreci- 
ation of  the  Englishman's  more  than  republican  liberty. 
Englishmen  have,  as  we  say,  "run  liberty  in  the 
ground,"  and  they  are  paying  for  it  in  the  shape  of 
class  legislation.  In  this  respect  they  are  having  a 
much  worse  time  than  we  are.  Another  manifestation 
of  this  lack  of  discrimination  is  our  habit  of  introduc- 
ing people  in  hotels  and  clubs  or  on  the  street  who 
have  no  earthly  interest  in  one  another. 

As  a  general  proposition  we  have  not  the  broad 
tolerance  we  ought  to  have.  There  exists  among  us 
a  widespread  and  easy  and  ignorant  assumption  that 
every  man  of  another  creed  or  race  or  born  under  any 
other  flag  must  be  inferior.  It  is  our  bounden  duty, 
of  course,  to  preserve  our  race  purity  and  refuse  to 
amalgamate  with  people  different  from  ourselves,  but 
their  difference  of  origin,  of  government,  of  character 
and  of  destiny,  does  not  justify  us  in  assuming  that 
they  are  lower  in  the  scale  than  we  are,  or  in  treating 
them  with  any  less  consideration  and  respect  than 
we  show  to  other  people  with  whom  we  come  in 
contact.  In  our  dealings  with  the  outside  world  racial 
and  religious  intolerance  should  be  eliminated.  We 
are  woefully  deficient  in  an  international  habit  of 
thought.  It  is  well  to  remember  that  we  are  not  so 
detached  from  Europe  and  South  America  as  we  were 
fifty  or  even  five  years  ago. 

7J, 


QUEEN   AND    CRESCENT 

Before  we  leave  the  subject  of  the  Jewish  race  it 
is  well  to  remind  ourselves  that  it  is  to  them  we  are 
indebted  for  the  Bible.  They  wrote  it  with  the  one 
exception  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  Luke.  Yet  they  were 
as  grasshoppers  in  the  sight  of  the  great  empires 
that  were  their  contemporaries. 

Outside  of  the  Bible,  the  Jew  has  not  written  any- 
thing particularly  wonderful;  but  he  has  secured  in 
these  wonderful  books  a  unique  permanence  for  his 
records.  The  Assyrian  and  the  Babylonian  races' 
records  have  only  been  discovered  within  the  last 
eighty  years.  For  centuries  the  site  of  Babylon 
itself  was  argued  and  the  existence  of  Nineveh  denied. 
But  these  insignificant  Jews  have  succeeded  in  pre- 
serving copious  and  continuous  annals  and  of  placing 
them  on  a  pinnacle  of  honor. 

This  is  all  the  more  strange  when  we  remember 
that  Christ,  denied  by  the  Jews,  is  the  cause  of  this 
Book  being  the  Book  of  Books  for  the  greatest  nations 
of  today.  Christ  crucified  and  rejected  by  the  Jews 
is  the  cause  of  its  worldwide  circulation,  and  the 
labor  of  its  translation  into  five  hundred  languages 
has  been  time  and  again  the  copestone  of  many  a 
scholar's  life.  *     *     *     * 

Lockhart,  in  his  life  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  one  of  the 
few  truly  great  biographies  in  the  English  language, 
relates  that  in  the  closing  hours  of  his  splendid  life, 
"The  Wizard  of  the  North"  asked  him  to  read  aloud. 
"  From  what  book.^ "  came  the  natural  question.  What 
a  lesson  there  is  in  the  simple  answer,  "Need  you 
ask.f^"  whispered  the  great  and  good  Sir  Walter, 
"There  is  but  one." 

75 


LETTER  V 

QUEEN    AND    CRESCENT 

{Continued) 

MANY  years  after  the  Johnson-Brown  incident, 
when  I  was  General  Superintendent  of  Trans- 
portation at  Baltimore,  Mr.  F.  D.  Under- 
wood,* then  Vice-President  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio 
Railroad,  called  me  up  and  said  he  was  taking  a 
party  of  friends  from  Chicago  down  the  bay  in  his 
yacht  that  afternoon,  and  asked  me  to  go  along. 

When  I  got  to  the  pier  at  the  appointed  time  and 
stepped  aboard  the  yacht,  the  first  person  Mr.  Un- 
derwood proceeded  to  present  me  to  was  Mr.  George 
F.  Brown.  I  hadn't  seen  the  man  for  nearly  twenty 
years  and  he  looked  very  gray  and  grizzled,  but  his 
stutter  had  not  departed.  At  the  first  opportunity 
I  told  Mr.  Underwood  in  an  aside,  about  my  previous 
meeting  with  Brown,  and  he  insisted  on  my  repeating 
the  story  and  nobody  laughed  more  heartily  than 
Brown  himself,  and  he  remembered  and  fully  cor- 
roborated every  word  of  it. 

^  ^  ^  ^ 

John  L.  Sullivan  the  prize  fighter,  when  in  the 
height  of  his  fame,  was  going  over  the  Alabama  Great 
Southern  division  with  his  troupe  of  "scrappers,"  and 
a  number  of  them,  including  the  redoubtable  John, 
got  into  the  ladies'  coach  and  persisted  in  smoking 

•  Now  President,  Erie  Railroad. 

76 


QUEEN   AND    CRESCENT 

there.  The  conductor,  Martin  Ford,  remonstrated 
with  them,  but  was  only  laughed  at  and  told  to  go  to 
that  region  where  it  is  said  only  asbestos  cats  can 
navigate.  The  brakeman  said  he  could  put  him  out, 
and  old  Martin  told  him  to  go  to  it.  He  did.  He  told 
Mr.  Sullivan  politely  that  it  was  against  the  regula- 
tions to  smoke  in  that  car.  He  likewise  was  promptly 
told  to  go  to  the  same  sulphurous  sphere  beyond  the 
grave.  But  the  brakeman  didn't  go.  His  gun  was 
under  John's  nose  in  an  instant  and  Mr.  Sullivan  went. 
If  he  hadn't,  Mr.  Corbett  would  have  been  deprived 
of  the  opportunity  to  distinguish  himself  by  making 
a  punching  bag  of  the  gentleman  from  Boston  some 
years  later. 

This  incident  shows  that  Sullivan  must  have  had 
good  sense  at  times.  It  also  illustrates  the  elementary 
truth  which  we  must  all  learn  sooner  or  later  that 
life  is  a  series  of  compromises.  Hard  and  fast  rules 
cannot  always  be  drawn.  We  must  all  adapt  ourselves 
and  our  charts  to  the  course  and  its  currents,  its  rocks 
and  its  shoals.     Sullivan  was  like  Callahan. 

Mr.  Callahan  had  received  a  tongue  lashing  from 
Mr.  Hennessy,  and  his  friends  were  urging  on  him 
the  wisdom   of  vindicating  his  honor  with  his  fists. 

"But  he's  more  than  my  equal,"  said  Callahan 
dubiously,  "Look  at  the  size  of  'im." 

"Sure  an'  you  don't  want  folks  to  be  sayin'  Terry 
Callahan's  a  coward." 

"Well,  I  dunno,"  said  Callahan,  "I'd  rather  that 
than  to  have  them  sayin'  day  after  tomorrow,  "How 
natural  Terry's  lookin'. 

77 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

I  saw  Sullivan  in  action  when  he  met  Dominic 
McCaffrey.  Unfortunately  it  was  only  a  six  round 
"go."  The  affair  took  place  at  the  Chester  Park 
race  track  in  Cincinnati  on  a  Saturday  afternoon  in 
the  summer  of  1883  before  an  enormous  crowd.  Every 
time  Sullivan  hit  McCaffrey  he  missed  him,  and  every 
time  McCaffrey  hit  Sullivan  he  hit  him,  and  if  the 
bout  had  gone  to  a  finish  it  could  only  have  ended 
in  the  hitherto  undefeated  Bostonian  getting  a  sound 
drubbing.  At  the  end  of  the  sixth  round  there  was 
a  long  palaver  among  the  plug-uglies  who  were  super- 
intending the  job  with  a  view  to  having  the  case  pro- 
ceed, but  the  Sullivan  party  would  have  none  of  it, 
and  in  the  meantime  the  referee  left  the  ring  and 
promptly  left  town.  On  the  Tuesday  following  that 
official  rendered  his  decision  from  Toledo,  or  some 
other  port  on  the  unsalted  seas,  that  Sullivan  had  won. 

A  long  suffering  and  idiotic  public  are  still  willing 
to  be  fooled.  P.  T.  Barnum,  many  years  ago,  boldly 
announced  that  the  American  people  like  to  be  fooled, 
and  he  was  right. 

Not  long  ago  I  happened  to  meet,  on  Smithfield 
Street,  Sol  Coulson,  the  old  Chief  of  Detectives,  and 
he  stopped  me  and  said,  "Mr.  Gibson,  I  want  to 
introduce  to  you  an  old  friend  of  mine  —  this  is 
Dominic  McCaffrey." 

"McCaffrey,  McCaffrey,"  I  said,  "Surely  not  the 
McCaffrey  I  saw  lick  Sullivan  some  twenty-five  or 
thirty  years  ago?" 

"Yes  sir,  the  same,"  said  Sol  proudly. 

"But  he  was  robbed  of  the  decision,"  I  added,  and 
McCaffrey  blushed  like  a  girl. 

78 


QUEEN    AND    CRESCENT 

Before  the  advent  of  dining  cars  through  passenger 
trains  had  regular  stopping  places  for  meals.  There 
was  a  particularly  good  eating  station  at  Eutaw,  on 
the  Alabama  Cheat  Southern  Division,  and  one  morn- 
ing some  ladies  having  had  breakfast  were  walking 
up  and  down  the  platform  waiting  for  the  conductor 
to  give  the  signal  to  get  aboard.  A  mountaineer 
came  along  with  an  old-fashioned  gun  over  his  shoulder 
and  swinging  a  dead  gopher  in  his  other  hand.  One 
of  the  ladies,  adjusting  her  pince  nez,  said,  "Excuse 
me,  but  what  is  that  animal.'^" 

"Oh,  it  ain't  nothing  but  a  gopher." 

"Is  it  amphibious.'^" 

"Amphibious  hell;    it  would  bite  you  in  a  minit." 

What  marvelous  change  has  come  over  railroad 
travel.  In  those  days  there  were  no  steel  cars  which 
have  added  so  much  to  the  safety  and  comfort  of  the 
public,  and  electric-lit  sleeping  and  dining  cars  were 

undreamt  of. 

*     *     *     * 

The  railroad  had  a  dispute  with  a  firm  of  con- 
tractors over  the  final  settlement  for  some  construc- 
tion work  on  the  Neiv  Orleans  and  North  Eastern 
Division,  and,  as  is  rather  unusual  in  such  cases  both 
sides  were  quite  satisfied  that  it  was  the  desire  of  the 
other  to  be  fair.  There  was,  therefore,  no  talk  of 
lawsuits,  and  it  was  agreed  that  the  question  should 
be  arbitrated,  each  side  naming  a  representative,  and 
the  two  so  chosen,  in  turn  selecting  a  third.  The  final 
choice  was  United  States  Senator  J.  C.  S.  Blackburn. 
It  is  easy  to  place  this  date  as  it  happened  when  the 
first  Cleveland  campaign  was  in  full  swing  (1884). 

79 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

The  Senator,  after  voting  at  home,  came  to  Cin- 
cinnati on  the  evening  of  election  day  and  we  supped 
together,  and  afterward  made  repeated  visits  to  the 
offices  of  the  "Commercial  Gazette"  (Mr.  Murat 
Halstead),  and  the  "Enquirer"  (Mr.  John  R.  McLean) 
to  hear  the  latest  returns.  The  present  elaborate 
method  of  publishing  election  figures  had  not  then 
been  evolved. 

Halstead  belonged  to  that  generation  of  journalistic 
giants  which  included  men  like  Charles  A.  Dana, 
George  W.  Childs,  Whitelaw  Reid*  and  Henry  Wat- 
terson.  When  Blackburn  pushed  open  the  door  of 
Halstead's  sanctum  on  our  last  visit,  the  latter  looked 
up,  and  raising  his  right  hand  above  his  head  ex- 
claimed, "Joe,  you've  got  us  by  the  neck  this  time!" 

*     *     *     * 

Senator  Blackburn  had  given  me  a  note  of  intro- 
duction to  Senator  Beck  of  Kentucky,  in  which  he 
most  graciously  referred  to  "a  young  Scotsman  who 
will  sufficiently  commend  himself."  That  letter  was 
not  used,  as  I  happened  to  meet  Mr.  Beck  before 
there  was  an  opportunity  to  present  it,  and  it  is  now 
in  one  of  the  old  scrapbooks. 

Senator  Blackburn  is  endowed  with  an  almost 
unrivalled  eloquence  and  beauty  of  expression;  he 
is  a  real  orator  and  it  is  as  natural  for  him  to  speak 
as  to  breathe.  Words  flow  from  his  lips  like  a  silvery 
stream;  he  has,  too,  a  marvelous  memory  and  a 
ready  wit.  In  one  of  his  congressional  campaigns  a 
voice  in  the  crowd  yelled  out,  "Joe,  if  we  send  you 
to  Congress  will  you  bring  me  a  knife  from  Wash- 
ington.'^"   "You  bet  your  life"  was  the  answer.    Next 

*Ambassador  to  the  Court  of  St.  James,  1905-12. 

80 


QUEEN    AND    CRESCENT 

time  Blackburn  was  back  in  that  part  of  his  district 
as  a  candidate  for  re-election,  the  same  voice  inter- 
rupted him,  "Joe,  you  never  brought  me  that  knife!" 
"Oh  yes,  I  did,"  pulling  a  fine  new  knife  out  of  his 
pocket,  and  holding  it  up  before  the  crowd,  he  said, 
"and  here  it  is!" 

By  rare  good  luck  it  so  happened  that  he  had 
bought  a  knife  for  his  boy  that  morning  before  leav- 
ing his  home  at  Versailles. 

Vice-President  Stevenson  relates  the  following: 
When  Mr.  Blackburn  was  first  a  candidate  for  Con- 
gress, he  attended  a  public  execution — in  plain  words, 
"a  hanging" — in  one  of  the  counties  of  his  district. 
Being  a  gentleman  of  distinction,  and  a  candidate 
for  Congress,  he  was  appropriately  invited  by  the 
sheriff  to  occupy  a  seat  with  the  prisoner  and  his 
spiritual  adviser  upon  the  gallows.  At  the  near 
approach  of  the  fatal  hour,  the  sheriff,  with  watch 
in  hand,  "amid  a  sea  of  upturned  faces,"*  stated  to 
the  prisoner  that  he  had  yet  five  minutes  to  live,  and 
it  was  his  privilege  if  he  so  desired,  to  address  the 
audience.  The  prisoner  meekly  replied  that  he  did 
not  wish  to  speak.  Whereupon  Mr.  Blackburn, 
stepping  promptly  to  the  front  of  the  scaffold,  said: 
"As  the  gentleman  does  not  wish  to  speak,  if  he  will 
kindly  yield  me  his  time,  I  will  take  this  occasion 
to  remark  that  I  am  a  candidate  for  Congress,  reg- 
ularly nominated  by  the  Democratic  Convention," 
etc.  This  incident  being  told  in  the  presence  of  the 
opposing  candidate,  the  latter  remarked  that  he 
remembered  it  well,  and  could  vouch  for  its  truth. 
He  then  added  that  when  Mr.   Blackburn  proposed 

•  Sir  Walter  Scott.    Rob  Roy,  Chapter  XX. 

81 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

to  speak  out  the  prisoner's  time,  the  latter  turned 
to  the  sheriff  and  enquired  who  that  was.  To  which 
the  officer  rephed.  "Captain  Blackburn."  At  this 
the  prisoner,  who  had  amid  all  the  exciting  scenes 
of  his  arrest  and  trial,  and  even  up  to  that  moment, 
with  his  open  coffin  beside  him,  displayed  marvelous 
fortitude,  suddenly  exhibiting  deep  emotion,  exclaimed, 
"Please  hang  me  first,  and  let  him  speak  afterivard." 

*     *     *     * 

My  letter  to  Senator  Beck  (everybody  called  him 
Mr.  Beck)  had  not  been  delivered,  because  in  the 
meantime  I  had  met  him  in  the  hospitable  home  of 
his  old  friend  and  crony  Mr.  David  Gibson,  the  Cin- 
cinnati banker  and  distiller.  They  called  each  other 
Jamie  and  Davie.  Mr.  Beck  was  a  man  of  both  brain 
and  brawn  and  spoke  with  a  Scottish  accent  almost 
as  marked  as  that  of  our  friend  Mr.  James  Scott, 
and  took  the  same  pride  in  it. 

Mr.  Beck  was  a  devoted  friend  of  one  William 
Smith,  the  Superintendent  of  the  Botanical  Gardens 
in  Washington,  an  old  Scotsman  who  had  made  quite 
a  collection  of  early  editions  of  Burns,  particularly 
American  editions,  and  who  bore  a  great  reputation 
as  a  Burns  scholar  and  a  student  of  Scottish  literature 
in  general.  I  met  this  Mr.  Smith,  "Old  Smith,"  as 
he  was  called,  a  number  of  times  when  we  lived  in 
Baltimore,  but  never  could  understand  the  odd,  as 
it  seemed  to  me,  odd  friendship  which  undoubtedly 
existed  between  Mr.  Beck  and  him,  two  men  so 
utterly  unequal  and  unlike.  Smith  undoubtedly  was 
a  famous  gardener,  and  an  untiring  collector  of  old 
volumes.     I  am  little  versed  in  the  science  of  botany, 

82 


QUEEN    AND    CRESCENT 

but  if  "Old  Smith"  understood  no  more  of  that 
science  than  he  did  of  the  hterature  of  Scotland  in 
general  and  the  work  and  message  of  Burns  in 
particular,  he  must  have  had  some  able  assistance 
in  the  gardens.  The  true  Scottish  gardener,*  as  a  rule, 
is  the  most  interesting  of  Scottish  products. 

*     *     *     * 

Mr.  Beck  had  a  fund  of  stories  and  most  of  them 
related  to  people  in  public  life.  Here  is  a  specimen: 
Ignatius  Donnelly,  then  in  Congress,  had  written  and 
published  a  book  attempting  to  prove  that  certain 
plays  by  a  person  described  as  the  Bard  of  Avon  were 
written  by  Lord  Bacon,  and  that  Shakespeare  was  a 
myth  or  a  fraud.  Soon  after  the  book  appeared,  one 
of  the  Kentucky  members  who  was  a  famous  wag 
met  the  author.  The  member  said,  "I  have  been 
reading  your  book,  Donnelly,  and  I  don't  believe  a 
word  of  it." 

"What.'*"  said  the  author,  in  surprise. 

"Oh,  that  book  of  yours,"  said  the  member,  "in 
which  you  tried  to  prove  that  Shakespeare  never 
wrote  'Richard  the  Third,'  'Merchant  of  Venice,' 
'Hamlet,'   'Macbeth,'   and  all  those  plays." 

"My  dear  Sir,"  said  the  author,  with  great  earnest- 
ness, "I  can  prove  positively  that  Shakespeare  never 
wrote  those  plays." 

"He  did,"  replied  the  member,  "he  did  write  them, 
Donnelly,  /  saw  him  lorite  three  or  four  of  them  myself.'^ 

"Impossible!"  exclaimed  Donnelly,  who  in  spite  of 
his  Irish  surname  was  guiltless  of  any  sense  of  humor, 
"Impossible,  Sir,  that  you  could  have  seen  Shakes- 
peare write  those  plays;  they  w^ere  written  three 
hundred  years  ago." 

*  Look  over  Robert  Louis  Stevenson's  "An  Old  Scottish  Gardener." 

83 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

"Three  hundred  years,  three  hundred  years,"  slowly 
murmured  the  member  in  a  sad  tone,  "Is  it  possible 
that  it  has  been  so  long?     Lord,  how  time  does  fly!'' 

*     *     *     * 

This  story  goes  just  about  as  far  as  the  Shake- 
speare controversy  has  reached  or  ever  will  reach,  and 
it  is  a  question  whether  the  reverent  tourist  who  pays 
his  devoirs  at  Warwick  castle  and  visits  Stratford,  is 
not  a  happier  and  more  satisfied  person  than  the 
pugnacious  controversialists  who  find  it  impossible 
to  reconcile  the  apparently  illiterate  mind  of  the  man- 
of -all-work  about  the  Globe  theatre,  with  the  extraor- 
dinary familiarity  with  such  ramifications  as  his  plays 
describe,  with  royal  doings,  the  nomenclature  of  palaces, 
the  chamberlain-like  accuracy  in  allotting  functions 
to  the  myriad  characters  that  carry  out  the  cosmic 
"business"  of  his  innumerably  diversified  scenarias. 

The  works  of  Shakespeare  show  what  the  man  was 
the  healthiest  and  best  balanced  man  that  ever  lived. 
His  greatness  consisted  in  his  harmonious  many 
mindedness.  The  glory  of  Shakespeare  is  that  he  was 
everything  and  was  great  in  everything.  He  spoke 
of  all  things  with  myriad-tongued  eloquence.  There 
is  no  passion,  no  motion  which  eluded  his  under- 
standing. You  cannot  tell  which  is  greater,  his  wisdom 
or  his  w^it,  his  wit  or  his  wisdom. 

For  the  English  speaking  people  Shakespeare  is 
always  there,  has  always  been  there.  He  has  cost 
nothing;  and  men  do  not  set  the  highest  value  on  that 
which  costs  them  nothing.  In  this  respect  Shakespeare 
resembles  the  Bible.  Unknown  to  themselves  the 
English  speaking  people  think  his  thoughts  and  speak 
his   language;    the  knowledge  that   Shakespeare   and 


QUEEN   AND    CRESCENT 

the  Bible  are  always  there,  ready  if  they  should  be 
needed,  has  done  much  to  cloud  both  in  a  reverential 
neglect. 

A  favorite  argument  against  Shakespeare's  author- 
ship is  his  notoriously  bad  handwriting.     This  most 
assuredly    proves    nothing.      Every    boy    who    knows 
anything  about  an  English  public  school,  or  even  a 
grammar  school  knows  that  it  is  considered  bad  form 
to  write  well.    It  is,  indeed,  part  of  English  snobbish- 
ness to  learn  to  write  badly,  and  that  snobbishness  ob- 
tained in  Shakespeare's  time  as  today,  and  Shakespeare 
puts  the  fact  on  record  about  himself  in  "Hamlet." 
I  once  did  hold  it  as  our  statists  do, 
A  baseness  to  write  fair,  and  laboured  much 
How  to  forget  that  learning. 

And  so  these  Shakespeare  iconoclasts,  like  the 
Priests  of  Baal,  go  about  crying  out  and  cutting 
themselves,  while  the  gods  hear  them  not. 

*     *     *     * 

The  habit,  the  affectation  —  I  have  just  called  it 
snobbery,  call  it  what  you  please  of  bad  writing  has 
given  rise  to  many  amusing  anecdotes. 

Dr.  Tait,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  of  blessed 
memory,  was  a  celebrated  cacographist  of  the  pre- 
typewriting  period.  When  Mrs.  Kingsley,  the  wife 
of  his  great  contemporary  Canon  Kingsley,  was  lying 
ill  her  husband  received  a  letter  from  the  Archbishop. 

He  conned  it  carefully  and  slowly  and  then  said : 

"Here  is  a  letter  from  the  Archbishop.  I  am  sure 
it  is  sympathetic  and  affectionate,  but  there  are  only 
two  words  I  can  make  anything  of,  and  I  don't  think 
I  can  have  got  them  quite  right,  for  they  seem  to  be 
'beastly'  and  'devil'." 

85 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

We  have  no  class  of  men  who  furnish  so  many- 
striking  examples  of  quaint  writing  as  railroad  officers 
particularly  in  their  signatures.  Take  John  Smith  for 
example:  On  leaving  college  John  probably  writes 
his  name,  thus: 


\Jcrn^^r%^    ^?^\A^X^r\^ , 


As  an  Assistant  Engineer  he  will  probably  write 
it  thus: 


As  a  Division  Engineer  he  will  probably  write  it 
thus: 


JflttA       Oua^CKj 


As  a  Superintendent  of  a  Division  he  will  improve 
it  to: 


And   as   he   advances    it   will    continue   to   evolve 
as  follows: 


^fC^y/hu:f(r'      ' 


8Q 


QUEEN    AND    CRESCENT 


Until  finally,  when  he  comes  to  be  a  President  we 
will  see  something  like 


or 


Thus  we  see  the  seven  ages  of  a  signature. 

*     *     *     * 

Writing  letters  seems  to  have  become  one  of  the 
lost  arts.  Who  today  can  write  a  letter  like  Mamma. ^^ 
I  know  no  one  else  who  writes  such  polished  and 
perfect  letters.  There  is  an  artistic  feeling  in  her 
writing  for  she  does  nothing  imperfectly.  Miss  Mary 
Shearer  of  Baltimore  speaking  of  one  of  Mamma's 
letters  said  that  it  was  the  most  beautiful  she  had 
ever  received  or  even  read,  and  that  was  saying  a 
great  deal,  for  few  people  can  write  like  our  dear  Mary. 


It  is  a  pity  that  letter  writing  should  have  fallen 
into  decay,  that  power  of  writing  to  a  friend,  perfect 
in  its  way,  full  of  life  and  spirit  and  sometimes  learn- 
ing, and  yet  with  no  effort  —  high  kind  of  talk  given 
off  in  its  ordinary  workings. 

87 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

Someone  has  spoken  of  the  comfort,  the  inexpressi- 
ble comfort,  of  feeUng  safe  with  a  person,  having 
neither  to  weigh  thoughts  nor  measm'e  words,  but 
pouring  them  all  right  out,  just  as  they  are,  chaff 
and  grain  together,  certain  that  a  faithful  hand  will 
take  and  sift  them  in  a  spirit  of  kindness. 

«  JjC  SjC  5iJ  ?t* 

It  is  true,  sad  enough  to  say,  that  Mamma's  writing 
is  more  or  less  like  that  of  her  distinguished  kinsman 
Archbishop  Tait.  It  is  said  that  Napoleon  wrote 
badly  in  order  to  disguise  his  bad  spelling.  You  will 
entertain  no  doubt  whatever  regarding  the  correctness 
of  this  statement  the  moment  you  tackle  one  of  the 
great  Corsican's  letters.  In  fact  you  may  find  the 
bad  writing,  if  you  get  stuck  on  the  translation,  a  very 
handy  excuse  for  your  own  worse  French. 

^  "i*  'f"  "T* 

Men  and  women  are  just  as  good  and  clever  and 
kind  as  they  ever  were;  but  life  is  led  at  higher  pres- 
sure, and  the  sense  of  finish  and  the  desire  for  it  in 
everything  we  do  is  much  less  than  it  used  to  be. 
But  after  all,  the  great  thing  in  a  letter  is  that  the 
person  who  gets  it  should  be  able  to  read  it,  for  there 
is  an  art  in  reading  not  less  than  in  writing  a  letter. 

*     *     *     * 

Never  answer  a  letter  without  re-reading  it.  The 
old  copybook  legend  "haste  breeds  carelessness"  is 
as  true  now  as  it  was  in  the  days  when  good  penman- 
ship and  that  training  in  the  little  social  courtesies 
of  life  which  have  been  allowed  to  fall  into  such  sad 
disuse  in  later  years,  went  hand  in  hand  in  the  train- 
ing of  youth.  It  is  very  easy  to  say  that  social  con- 

88 


QUEEN    AND    CRESCENT 

ditions  have  altered,  as  they  have  altered  economically 
and  politically,  and  if  slap-bang  and  hurly-burly  have 
given  its  coup  de  grace  to  the  once  gentle  art  of  writing 
letters,  is  not  that  all  the  more  reason  why,  before 
it  is  too  late,  we  should  rescue  the  half-dead  art  of 
reading  them? 

It  is  certain  that  penmanship  is  a  lost  art. 

*  *     *     * 

Never  be  guilty  of  the  carelessness,  which  amounts 
to  positive  incivility  now  unfortunately  much  too 
common  in  the  land,  of  not  promptly  replying  to 
letters,  or  acknowledging  any  other  personal  com- 
munication. People  who  ought  to  know  and  do  know 
better  are  frequently  guilty  of  failing  to  recognize 
this  well  established  principle,  the  neglect  of  which 
is  not  easily  pardoned. 

*  *     *     * 

The  late  Mr.  Tom  Potter,  in  his  day,  manager  of 
the  Burlington  Road,  was  a  notoriously  bad  writer, 
not  from  affectation  however.  He  probably  had  not 
been  to  school  as  long  as  you  have. 

A  farmer  from  one  of  the  small  stations  on  his 
line  called  at  his  office  in  Chicago  and  asked  for  an 
order  for  a  certain  fast  train  to  land  him  at  his  station 
as  he  had  been  urgently  called  home.  Mr.  Potter 
scribbled  something  on  a  piece  of  memorandum  paper, 
signed  it  and  handed  it  to  the  farmer.  The  latter 
with  natural  curiosity,  looked  at  it  after  he  left  Mr. 
Potter's  office,  but  could  make  nothing  of  it  except 
the  signature  and  the  date. 

The  farmer  boarded  his  train,  and  when  the 
conductor   came   along   handed   out   the   note   saying 

89 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

that  he  had  to  get  off  at  blank  station.  The  conductor 
scrutinized  it  carefully,  handed  it  back,  and  passed 
on.  Of  course  the  farmer  expected  him  to  come  back 
for  his  ticket  but  he  didn't.  Emboldened  by  his 
success,  and  still  unable  to  decipher  the  note,  the 
honest  farmer  thought  he  would  chance  it  for  a  ride 
back  to  Chicago  and  it  worked.  Thereafter  he  used 
it  until  the  end  of  the  year  as  a  time  pass. 

TfC  «{«  <)«  SfC 

Another  of  Mr.  Beck's  stories  related  to  Henry 
Clay.  It  often  happened  in  the  earlier  days  that  the 
House  of  Representatives  would  introduce  a  resolu- 
tion instructing  the  Senators  from  Kentucky  to  vote 
for  or  against  some  specific  bill  pending  in  Congress. 
On  one  occasion  such  a  resolution  was  about  to  be 
passed  without  opposition,  when  a  hitherto  silent  mem- 
ber from  one  of  the  mountain  counties,  springing  to 
his  feet,  exclaimed,  "Mr.  Speaker,  Am  I  to  understand 
that  this  Legislature  is  undertaking  to  tell  Henry  Clay 
how  to  vote.f^"  The  speaker  replied  that  such  was  the 
purpose  of  the  resolution.  At  which  the  member 
from  the  mountains,  throwing  up  his  arms,  exclaimed, 
''Great  God!'"  and  sank  into  his  seat. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  resolution  was  unan- 
imously rejected. 

*     *     *     * 

Here  is  another  story  of  these  days:  An  old  gentle- 
man, a  friend  of  Senator  Beck,  never  seemed  to  be 
satisfied  unless  he  had  several  cases  pending  in  Court. 
When  he  died  his  surviving  son  who  seemed  to  follow 
in  his  footsteps  continued  to  keep  up  his  father's 
record  of  proceedings  in  court. 

90 


QUEEN   AND    CRESCENT 

Several  attorneys  were  talking  about  the  old  gentle- 
man and  his  court  troubles  one  day,  when  one  of  them 
told  the  following  about  him: 

The  old  gentleman  had  just  won  a  case  in  the 
Justice  Court,  when  the  loser,  in  a  very  combative 
frame  of  mind,  exclaimed,  "I'll  law  you  to  the  circuit 
court." 


O.  G. 
Loser 
O.  G. 
Loser 


'I'll  be  thar." 

"And  I'll  law  you  to  the  Supreme  Court." 

'I'll  be  thar." 

"I'll  law  you  to  hell." 


O.  G.:  ''My  attorney'll  he  thar.'" 

*     *     *     * 

Among  other  prominent  men  of  the  South,  whom, 
in  the  earlier  days,  I  have  had  the  honor  to  meet, 
might  be  named  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis,  General  Simon 
Bolivar  Buckner,  Mr.  W.  C.  P.  Breckenridge  and 
General  Beauregard.  Mr.  Davis  was  a  tall  man  with 
a  slight  stoop.  He  had  a  keen  eye  and  the  simple, 
easy  manner  of  a  well-bred  gentleman. 

A  person,  of  quite  a  different  stamp  of  course,  whose 
name  will  never  be  blotted  from  the  pages  of  American 
Civil  War  history,  whom  I  had  an  opportunity  to  see 
and  speak  to,  was  Sergeant  Boston  Corbet  who  was 
in  the  detachment  of  the  Sixteenth  New  York  Cavalry 
which  finally  ran  down  Wilkes  Booth  the  assassin  of 
President  Lincoln.  The  attacking  party  called  on 
Booth  and  his  companions  to  surrender  but  they  refused 
and  the  barn  in  which  they  had  taken  refuge  was  set 
fire  to.  Although  strict  orders  had  been  given  to 
take  them  alive,  Corbet  in  the  excitement  of  the 
moment  shot  Booth  the  instant  he  appeared  when  the 

91 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

flames  drove  the  fugitives  into  view.  When  questioned 
by  the  officer  in  command  of  the  detachment,  Lieut. 
Baker,  as  to  why  he  fired  the  shot,  Corbet,  who  was 
a  reHgious  zealot  told  his  commander:   "Providence 

directed  me." 

*  *     *     * 

The  body  of  Wilkes  Booth  was  secretly  turned  over 
to  his  family  and  now  moulders  in  an  unmarked  but 
well  cared  for  grave  in  a  Baltimore  cemetery. 

*  *     *     * 

A  distinguished  veteran  of  the  Civil  War  whom  I 
have  met  many  times  is  Lieutenant-General  S.  M.  B. 
Young,  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  United  States 
Army  (retired).  The  story  is  told  that  when  he  was 
present  at  the  annual  manoeuvers  of  the  German 
Army  in  1904,  the  Kaiser  w^as  particularly  gracious 
and  asked  if  he  had  ever  been  in  Germany  before. 
Young  immediately  said:  "Yes  Sir."  Whereupon  the 
Kaiser  asked  what  parts  of  Germany  he  had  visited. 
Young  answered:  "Milwaukee  and  St.  Louis." 


9S 


LETTER  VI 

THOMAS    HUGHES 

THOMAS  HUGHES,  the  English  author,  states- 
man and  philanthropist,  visited  Cincinnati  in 
the  early  Eighties. 
He  had  a  long  experience  in  Parliament  and  held 
advanced  views  with  strong  socialistic  leanings.  He 
identified  himself  with  the  great  movements  in  Eng- 
land for  liberalizing  education,  for  secularizing  the 
great  universities;  for  the  establishment  of  working- 
men's  colleges,  for  the  extension  to  the  working 
classes  of  the  principle  of  co-operation.  His  idea  was 
to  bring  to  them  the  best  culture  of  the  time  as  an 
offset  to  the  Continental  revolutionary  tendencies  of 
the  day. 

He  was  the  founder,  with  Professor  F.  D.  Maurice, 
of  the  Christian  Socialists,  and  among  his  followers 
and  earnest  supporters  he  could  count  such  men  as 
Canon  Kingslej^  Lord  Lytton,  and  the  Marquis  de 
Grey  and  Ripon.  They  were  of  the  pick  and  pride 
of  England.  He  led  them  to  the  recognition  and,  to 
some  extent  success  of  the  movement  in  his  own 
country.  Their  thought  was  "The  Fatherhood  of 
God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man." 

He  was  the  creator  of  Rugby  on  the  Cincinnati 
Southern  Road,  a  socialistic  community  in  the  moun- 

93 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SOX 

tains  of  Tennessee,  and  it  was  mainly  in  connection 
with  that  enterprise  that  he  visited  this  country 
several  times.  It  proved  an  utter  failure,  and  he  lost 
a  great  deal  of  money  over  it.  It  was  planned  in  an 
optimistic  spirit  worthy  of  Mark  Tapley. 

Thomas  Hughes  was  an  extremely  religious  man 
and  had  been  the  friend  of  Dr.  Arnold,  of  Carlyle,  of 
Thackeray  and  especially  of  James  Russell  Lowell. 

It  has  been  said  that  he  acted  as  literary  god- 
father with  the  British  public  for  the  author  of  the 
"Bigelow  papers,"  and  his  affection  for  him  and  their 
close  friendship  ended  only  with  Lowell's  death. 

It  was  his  intimacy  with  Lowell  that  turned  his 
attention  to  what  was  going  on  in  this  country  and 
raised  the  deep  interest  which  he  took  in  the  great 
problems  which  the  United  States  had  fought  out  for 
itself  and  for  the  whole  world. 

But  it  is  as  the  author  of  Tom  Brown  s  School  Days 
that  Thomas  Hughes  is  best  known  and  will  continue 
to  be  known. 

It  is  not  easy  to  portray  the  schoolboy  in  a  way 
that  will  interest  older  men  or  even  other  boys,  but 
it  has  been  done  by  Hughes  in  Tom  Broum  and  by 
Dickens  in  Nicholas  Nickleby.  In  both  cases  interest 
is  concentrated  upon  the  master  —  in  the  first  a  demi- 
god, in  the  second  a  demon.  His  own  brother  George 
was  in  the  main  the  original  of  Tom  Brown. 

He  showed  the  keenest  interest  in  our  Government 
and  institutions,  and  it  was  a  sympathetic  interest. 
Nothing  seemed  to  escape  his  observation  and  he  looked 
at  things  from  unexpected  angles,  and  referred  to  sub- 
jects out  of  the  beaten  path. 


THOMAS    HUGHES 

For  example,  the  expression  "white  trash"  as 
apphed  (and  quite  erroneously  applied)  to  the  moun- 
taineers of  Kentucky,  seemed  to  hold  great  interest 
for  him.  Who  were  these  people?  Certainly  they 
were  not  pioneers.  Living  in  comparative  proximity 
to  old  sections  of  civilized  social  life,  here  was  a  semi- 
barbarous  population  of  our  own  race  and  color  upon 
which  time  and  progress  had  made  practically  no 
impression,  and  of  which  their  very  nearest  neighbors 
knew  next  to  nothing  and  cared  less. 

"Who,"  Mr.  Hughes  asked,  "are  these  people, 
thus  hopelessly  side-tracked  in  this  great  land  of 
material  progress  and  opportunity,^"  They  are  nearly 
all  of  English  name  and  origin.  Some  sociologists  say 
that  they  are  the  descendants  of  the  indentured 
servants  shipped  out  in  far-away  days  to  the  planters. 
There  is  nothing  to  support  this  theory,  and  the  good 
old  English,  Irish,  W^elsh  and  Scottish  names  found 
among  them  would  dispose  of  it,  although  that  of 
itself  need  not  always  be  taken  as  conclusive  proof, 
for  many  people  of  gentle  birth  were  "indentured." 
It  is  more  reasonable  to  suppose  their  origin  to  have 
been  mainly  fortuitous,  recruited  during  the  years 
from  people  whom  accident,  indolence  or  misfortune 
drove  that  way.  Whoever  they  were,  or  who  propa- 
gated this  ill-starred  race,  it  might  truthfully  be 
written  in  letters  of  fire  over  these  mountains  so  fair 
and  glorious  to  look  at,  "Abandon  hope  all  ye  who 
enter  here."  Sociologically  it  would  seem  that  the 
mountains  of  Kentucky  had  formed  a  pocket  into 
which  a  section  of  the  immigrants  of  two  centuries 
ago  had  fallen,  and  where,  knowing  little  of  the  world 

95 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

on  either  side  of  them,  they  had  preserved  their 
peciiharities  of  speech,  custom,  and  their  extraor- 
dinary moral  code  intact  until  the  present  day. 

They  are  not  outcasts  of  an  old  slave-holding  civili- 
ization,  for  they  existed  in  their  present  condition 
long  before  the  Civil  War.  Illiterate  and  despised, 
they  remain  unnoticed,  save  occasionally  by  the  county 
sheriff,  or,  more  seldom  still,  by  some  local  politician 
with  an  eye  on  their  votes. 

*     *     *     * 

The  first  gleam  of  hope  for  these  people  of  the 
Cumberlands  has  but  recently  appeared,  and  the 
Moses  who  was  first  to  show  them  the  light  is,  happily, 
one  of  themselves.     He  is  a  real  hero  in  humble  life. 

One,  Mr.  J.  A.  Burns  of  Oneida  County,  Kentucky, 
has  arisen  as  the  leader  in  the  emancipation  of  his 
people.  He  is  known  as  "Burns  of  the  Mountains," 
and  by  his  own  efforts  he  succeeded  in  starting  a 
school,  and  he  began  alone  the  work  on  its  foundation 
and  did  not  have  a  dollar  when  he  started  it.  He 
relates  that: 

"It  was  dawn  of  day  when  I  finished  the  laying 
of  the  first  stone  in  the  first  foundation  of  Oneida 
Insititute.  I  set  it  as  firmly  as  I  could  in  the  wish 
that  it  might  stand  long;  and  then  all  alone  on  the 
hillside,  I  stretched  out  my  arms  and  offered  up  as 
good  a  prayer  as  I  knew  how.  About  then  a  young 
feudist  came  riding  over  the  hill  beyond,  perhaps 
from  some  raid  in  which  he  had  engaged  the  night 
before.  It  was  sun-up  and  he  saluted  the  rising 
day  with  a  volley  of  pistol  shots;  still,  I  presume, 
full  of  the  fury  of  the  combat. 

"I  accepted  that  volley  of  shots  as  a  challenge 
to  my  prayer.  Three  years  later  I  baptized  that 
young  feudist,  and  he  rides  on  feuds  no  more.  My 
first  rude  building  stands  there  on  the  hill,  and 
beside  it  are  now  several  others  larger  and  better. 
Did  God  answer  that  prayer.?" 

96 


THOMAS    HUGHES 

It  is  difficult  for  us  to  think  of  a  Baptist  minister 
over  fifty  years  of  age,  a  preacher  for  more  than  thirty 
years,  who  could  not  read  or  write,  but  who  learned 
to  do  both  after  the  age  most  men  are  done  with 
business  affairs. 

Or  of  a  woman  eighty-six  years  of  age  going  to 
school  to  learn  to  read  and  write.  She  learned  to  do 
both  in  the  same  night  school  with  the  Baptist  minister 
in  Rowan  County,  Kentucky. 

Nor  is  it  easy  to  picture  to  yourself  a  class  in  that 
night  school  made  up  of  grown  men  and  women, 
adult  iVmericans,  all  of  them  fine-looking  people,  and 
everyone  of  them  over  fifty  years  of  age,  all  going  to 
school  to  learn  to  read  and  write. 

Students  at  the  Burns  Institute  receive  board, 
lodging  and  tuition  for  four  dollars  a  mo7ith.  The 
students  raise  on  the  school  farm  the  great  part  of 
what  they  eat.  They  make  their  own  bacon  and 
hams  in  their  smokehouses. 

Thus  a  start  has  been  made,  but  some  of  these 
people  still  grind  their  own  wheat  and  corn.  They 
reap  their  wheat  with  the  sickle.  They  bring  in  their 
little  bundles  of  wheat  and  do  their  threshing  with 
flails,  and  usually  the  flail  is  not  made  of  two  pieces 
connected  by  a  thong,  but  of  one  piece  of  hickory, 
the  hinge  being  made  by  hammering  and  twisting  the 
pole  until  the  fibre  is  loosened  into  a  hinge. 

When  the  wheat  is  threshed  they  winnow  it,  much, 
perhaps,  as  they  did  in  Palestine.  A  man  takes  a 
vessel  of  the  wheat  and  holds  it  high  as  his  head  and 
pours  it  out  a  little  at  a  time  on  the  ground.  Two 
other  men  stand  at  one  side  with  a  sheet  or  cloth,  and 

97 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

with  a  peculiar  whipping  movement  of  the  stretched 
sheet  blow  the  chaff  out  of  the  wheat  as  it  falls. 
Then  the  wheat  is  ready  for  grinding  in  the  little 
handmill. 

A  few  still  have  their  spinning  wheels  and  weave 
native  cloth  on  old  handlooms. 

When  one  thinks  that  men  and  women  of  our  own 
race  still  eat  bread  and  wear  clothing  made  in'  those 
primitive  ways,  still  live  without  hope  of  education  or 
betterment  of  their  circumstances,  you  will  not  marvel 
at  the  wonderment  of  Mr.  Hughes,  and  the  absorbing 
interest  he  evinced  in  a  condition,  which,  so  far  as 
many  of  these  people  are  concerned,  has  not  changed 
a  great  deal  since  his  visit  here  some  thirty -five  years 
ago.  Here  is  the  raw  material  of  citizenship  —  and 
no  less  an  authority  than  my  friend  Professor  Mac- 
kenzie assures  me  —  material  extremely  sensitive  to 
shaping  influences  and  very  responsive  to  them. 

They  are  a  simple,  bold,  honorable,  generous  and 
able  people  of  splendid  stock.  Their  lives  are  barren 
because  isolation  has  barred  opportunity.  The  govern- 
ing factor  of  their  health,  their  education  and  their 
citizenship  is  poverty,  and  their  ignorance  the  most 
obvious  result  of  their  poverty.  Rich  in  ancestry 
yet  poor  in  this  world's  goods. 

A  Kentuckian  has  referred  to  them  as  "our  con- 
temporaneous ancestors."  They  do  not  know  they 
are  feudists.  Their  ignorance  is  their  curse.  Their 
lives  present  strange  anomalies.  The  mother  who 
teaches  her  daughter  virtue,  w4io  teaches  her  son 
honor  and  the  full  keeping  of  his  word,  will  deny 
herself  to  buy  that  son  a  pistol  and  tell  him  to  avenge 

98 


THOMAS    HUGHES 

the  blood  of  his  family.  The  feudist  of  the  hills  does 
his  work  treacherously.  The  code  is  assassination 
from  ambush.  Such  is  their  unsophisticated  brutality 
that  to  them  this  is  not  crime,  but  religion. 

The  feudist  hides  in  the  woods  and  other  safe  places 
and  shoots  at  the  unsuspecting  member  of  the  family 
of  the  other  side  to  the  dispute.  Any  member  of  the 
enemy's  family  is  a  fair  mark  in  his  eyes.  Then  the 
victim's  relatives  seek  to  avenge  his  death  by  killing 
the  murderer  or  others  of  his  kin.  Such  a  feud  may 
last  for  years;  sometimes  it  has  only  ended  with  the 
wiping  out  of  a  family. 

The  feud  was  quite  common  in  northern  Europe  in 
olden  times,  and  family  waged  war  on  family  and  clan 
upon  clan.  The  disputes  grew  to  such  an  extent  that 
they  worked  their  own  destruction.  As  civilization 
advanced  the  feuds  were  restricted  more  and  more 
until  finally  they  were  abolished.  This  sensible  process 
is  happily  developing  in  Kentucky  today. 

*(*  ^i*  'I*  *!* 

Not  long  ago  Mr.  D.  F.  Crawford  handed  me  a 
magazine  article  relating  to  the  old  feuds  between  the 
clans  in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  and  it  made  special 
reference  to  the  blood-thirstiness  and  treachery  of 
the  Sinclairs,  as  glorious  a  band  of  bare-legged  cut- 
throats and  cattle-lifters  as  ever  drew  claymore  and 
laid  the  Sassenach  low.  Of  any  Sinclair  it  could  well 
be  said,  to  take  a  slight  liberty  with  one  of  Burns  verses : 

"But  bring  a  Sinclair  frae  his  hill 
Clap  in  his  cheek  a  Highland  gill, 
Say,  such  is  Royal  Charlie's  will, 

And  there's  the  foe; 
He  has  nae  thought  but  how  to  kill, 

Twa  at  a  blow." 

99 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

Remembering  that  my  old  friend  Dr.  Angus  Sin- 
clair of  New  York  was  a  descendant  of  that  ancient 
and  illustrious  Scottish  house  I  thought  it  would  be 
proper  to  send  the  paper  to  him,  and  the  following  is 
his  amusing  and  inimitable  acknowledgment: 

New  York,  March  14,  1912 
My  dear  William: 

The  cutting  which  you  kindly  sent  me  telHng 
about  the  doings  of  the  Auld  Lang  Syne  Sinclairs 
is  amusing  if  not  edifying.  I  believe  that  I  must 
be  a  lineal  descendent  of  the  ruffian  who  led  his 
cousin  into  committing  murder  and  then  denounced 
her.  What  makes  me  believe  that  his  bad  blood 
has  come  along  to  me  is,  that  I  am  suffering  from 
rheumatism  which  I  believe  to  be  the  painful 
manifestation  of  past  iniquity.  In  future  when 
any  cruel  twinge  tortures  my  knee  or  hip  joint,  I 
shall  exclaim  damn  that  scoundrel  whose  sweetest 
thoughts  ran  on  murder  and  the  promotion  of 
incestuous  marriages. 

One  historical  incident  is  omitted.  There  was 
a  standing  fued  between  the  Sinclairs  of  Ulbster 
and  the  Campbells  of  Lorn.  In  one  of  the  raids  that 
the  Campbells  made  on  Ulbster,  Duncan  Campbell, 
the  second  son  of  Lorn,  was  taken  prisoner.  Instead 
of  hanging  him  without  loss  of  time  the  Sinclair 
chief  locked  the  Campbell  up  for  future  use.  It 
happened  that  this  Sinclair  had  an  ill-faured 
dochter  known  far  and  near  as  Muckle  Moo'ed 
Meg.  It  was  more  than  time  that  Meg  was  engaged 
helping  to  increase  the  number  of  the  clan,  but  no 
man  of  marriageable  age  would  agree  to  wed  her. 
The  Sinclair  perceived  in  Duncan  Campbell  his 
opportunity,  and  offered  his  prisoner  the  option 
of  marrying  Meg  or  being  hanged.  Duncan  agreed 
to  the  deal,  but  when  the  would-be  bride  was  pre- 
sented, he  protested  that  he  would  prefer  the 
"woody."  As  he  was  immediately  led  to  the  gallows 
tree,  he  protested  that  "hanging  was  nae  better 
than  it's  ca'ed,"  and  married  the  lass.  In  due  time 
he  led  his  wife  into  Lorn  and  their  descendants 
became  known  as  the  ill-faured  Campbells,  former 
generations  having  been  noted  for  their  good  looks. 

100 


THOMAS    HUGHES 

That  tale,  my  dear  William,  redeems  the  name 
of  Sinclair,  for  it  needs  a  brave  man  to  wed  a  wife 
notorious  for  ugliness,  facial  or  otherwise. 

Please  extend  my  thanks  to  Mr.  Crawford,  some 
of  whose  forbears  were  close  rivals,  in  deeds,  to  the 
Sinclairs. 

Your  old  friend, 

Angus  Sinclair 

Everyone  has  heard  authentic  stories  of  the  man 
who  asked  another,  "Who  is  that  old  frump  over 
yonder.^"  and  got  the  reply,  "She  is  my  wife."  But 
the  story  does  not  go  far  enough. 

Jones  observed  an  old  lady  sitting  across  the  room. 

"For  heaven's  sake,"   he  remarked  to   Robinson, 
"Who  is  that  extraordinarily  ugly  woman  there.'^" 
"That,"  answered  Robinson,  "is  my  wife." 
Jones  was  taken  aback,  but  moved  up  front  again. 

"Well,"  he  said  persuasively,  "You  just  ought  to 

see  mine!" 

*     *     *     * 

The  ultimate  redemption  of  the  feudist  of  the  hills 
—  precious  as  the  ray  of  educational  sunshine  feeble 
though  it  may  be,  which  is  beginning  to  shine  upon 
them  —  lies  in  the  civilizing  influence  of  the  railroad. 
This  singular  race  of  mountaineers  is  bound  to  vanish 
before  the  railroads  and  mining  camps  of  the  twentieth 
century.  They  unquestionably  have  large  areas  of 
virgin  timber  and  their  land  is  underlaid  with  coal, 
but  without  transportation  it  is  of  as  little  value  as 
the  corn  of  the  early  settlers  of  Western  Pennsylvania 
who  resisted  the  Federal  taxation  of  whisky. 

Unfortunately  in  eastern  Kentucky,  particularly 
in   the  mountains,   land  titles   are  not   worth   much. 

101 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

It  is  largely  a  matter  of  possession  being  nine  points 
of  the  law,  and  it  makes  no  difference  whether  a  man 
has  a  title  which  goes  back  to  the  time  of  the  settlement 
of  the  State,  the  man  who  owns  the  land  for  all  practical 
purposes  is  the  one  who  has  possession.  It  is  only 
within  the  last  few  years  that  action  has  been  taken 
to  protect  land  buyers. 

*  *     *     * 

There  are  few  colored  folk  living  among  or  near 
them,  and  a  darky,  to  some  of  these  mountaineers, 
is  almost  as  unknown  as  a  locomotive. 

*  *     *     * 

Our  national  habit  of  asking  personal  questions 
must  undoubtedly  be  of  English  origin.  It  is  charac- 
teristic of  New  England,  but  reaches  its  highest 
development  among  these  untutored  people,  for  every- 
body in  the  mountains  asks  the  stranger  (or  "furriner'* 
as  they  designate  him)  where  he  is  going,  what  his 
name  is,  and  what  is  his  business.  A  course  in  moun- 
tain etiquette  might  be  advisable  before  paying  these 
people  a  visit.  It  is  not  mountain  custom  to  shake 
hands  and  anything  so  effeminate  as  kissing  is  unknown, 
and  to  knock  at  a  neighbor's  door  is  a  needless  for- 
mality. While  they  are  very  keen  on  asking  questions 
they  are  equally  slow  in  answering  them. 

The  mountaineer  is  very  suspicious  of  "furriners'* 
and  does  not  open  his  arms  to  everyone  from  a  world 
he  dimly  conceives  has  used  him  ill  and  certainly 
despised  him.  What  else  could  be  expected  of  people 
who  from  their  cradles  had  known  no  one  but  their 
kind,  and  had  been  under  no  influence  social,  legal, 
religious  or  educational.^ 

102 


THOMAS    HUGHES 

Even  "Burns  of  the  Mountains,"  leader  and  hero 
as  he  is  and  all  praise  to  him,  makes  it  no  secret  that 
he  shrinks  before  the  thought  of  the  opening  up  of 
his  country,  at  least  before  they  have  had  time  to 
educate  their  people  and  prepare  them  for  it. 

*     *     *     * 

There  are  great  possibilities  in  that  section  of 
Kentucky,  and  if  some  of  our  ardent  missionaries 
were  to  go  into  the  mountains  and  teach  those  moun- 
taineers how  to  live  they  would  accomplish  more 
good  than  by  spending  their  time  in  China  and  other 
foreign  countries,  for  there  are  men  and  women  among 
them  who  do  not  even  know  that  there  are  railroads 
or  churches.     Good  roads  would  also  be  a  blessing. 

These  unfortunate  people  must  have  a  past,  and 
generation  of  them  follows  generation  to  the  dust 
but  for  them  there  has  been  no  future.  We  have  our 
foreign  missions.  We  conduct  splendid  campaigns 
for  the  education  of  our  new  citizens.  Education  is 
literally  carried  to  them  and  thrust  upon  them.  We 
absorb  and  civilize  hunkies  and  dagoes  by  the  thou- 
sands, we  shelter  the  outcast  Jews  of  Europe  but  it 
does  not  seem  to  occur  to  us  that  charity  might  begin 
at  home,  and  there  is  a  wide  field  among  these 
poor  people. 

^  T*  ^  ^ 

The  uneducated  are,  perhaps,  unjustly  judged  some- 
times. To  the  ignorant  both  right  and  wrong  are 
only  instincts;  when  you  remember  their  piteous  and 
innocent  confusion  of  ideas,  the  twilight  of  dim  com- 
prehension in  which  they  dwell,  we  cannot  but  feel 
that  the  laws  of  more  civilized  men  are  too  hard  on 

103 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

them.  We  cannot  judge  them  by  our  own  standards. 
It  is  this  phase  of  the  mountaineer  mind  that  must 
be  considered. 

To  call  him  "degenerate"  is  a  slander  and  a  misuse 
of  langauge.  He  is  undeveloped  —  "backward"  — 
where  the  rest  of  us  were  a  hundred  and  fifty  years 
ago,  but  degenerate  not  one  whit.  He  is  independent, 
self-respecting,  willing  to  learn  what  he  thinks  is 
worth  while,  but  difficult  to  urge  and  impossible  to 
force;  possessing  in  full  vigor  most  of  the  traits  that 
have  made  the  Anglo-Saxons  the  dominant  people 
of  this  continent.  What  he  needs  is  to  be  "shown" 
and  then  to  be  let  alone  to  work  out  his  salvation  as 

other  men  have. 

*     *     *     * 

Our  newspaper  humorists  used  to  poke  a  lot  of 
fun  at  the  mountaineers  of  the  "dark  and  bloody 
ground,"  but  that  is  a  thing  of  the  past. 

The  following  screed  is  a  good  specimen.  It  is  not 
known  who  wrote  it: 

Man  born  in  the  wiles  of  Kentucky  is  of  feud 
days  and  easy  virtue.  He  fisheth,  fiddleth  and 
fighteth  all  the  days  of  his  life.  He  shunneth  water 
as  a  mad  dog  and  drinketh  much  whisky. 

He  riseth  even  from  his  cradle  to  seek  the  scalp 
of  his  grandsire's  enemy,  and  bringeth  home  in  his 
carcase  the  ammunitions  of  his  neighbor's  wife's 
uncle's  father-in-law  who  avengeth  the  deed. 

Yea,  verily  his  life  is  uncertain  and  he  knoweth 
not  the  hour  when  he  may  be  fired  hence. 

He  goeth  on  a  journey  "half  shot,"  and  cometh 
back  on  a  shutter,  shot. 

He  rises  in  the  night  to  let  the  cat  out,  and  it 
taketh  nine  doctors  three  days  to  pick  the  buck- 
shot from  his  person. 

He  goeth  forth  in  joy  and  gladness,  and  cometh 
back  in  scraps  and  fragments. 

10I^ 


THOMAS   HUGHES 

He  calleth  his  fellow-man  a  liar  and  getteth 
himself  filled  with  scrap  iron,  even  to  the  fourth 
generation. 

He  emptieth  a  demijohn  into  himself  and  a 
shotgun  into  his  enemy  and  his  enemy's  son  lieth 
in  wait  on  election  day,  and,  lo,  the  coroner  ploweth 
up  a  40-acre  field  to  bury  the  remains  of  that  man. 


105 


LETTER  VII 

THOMAS  HUGHES 

(Continued) 

NO  REFERENCE  to  the  "poor  mountaineers 
of  the  South"  is  complete  without  some 
mention  of  moonshiners  and  moonshining. 
Previous  to  the  Civil  War  stills  were  about  as  frequent 
in  those  mountains  as  gristmills,  and  grain  was  "stilled" 
with  as  little  thought  of  wrong-doing  as  it  was  ground 
for  bread.  The  interference  of  the  Government  had 
long  been  regarded  as  a  wanton  attack  on  a  natural 
right.  Such  was  and  is  the  mental  attitude  of  the 
moonshiner.  His  conscience  does  not  reproach  him 
for  selling  liquor  without  a  license  after  he  has  made  it. 
These  mountaineers  are  by  no  means  confined  to 
Kentucky  and  the  Cumberlands.  They  — ■  the  same 
shaggy,  unkempt  class  of  men,  the  same  lean,  yellow 
and  attenuated  women  —  are  found  in  the  Virginias, 
the  Carolinas,  Tennessee  and  Georgia,  and  even  in 
Western  Pennsylvania  we  can  find  a  class  much  the 
same  in  Fayette  and  Somerset  Counties,  who  are 
undoubtedly  descendants  of  the  men  who  resisted  the 
Federal  taxation  imposed  by  the  government  in  1791, 
thereby  causing  what  is  known  in  history  as  the 
"Whisky  Insurrection."  They  practically  withdrew 
themselves  from  the  government  they  had  helped 
to  establish. 

106 


THOMAS    HUGHES 

Secret  whisky  stills  to  this  day  continue  to  furnish 
transient  consolation  to  the  mountaineers  of  our 
neighboring  counties,  and  so  we  see  the  "Whisky 
Insurrection"  has  not  yet  been  entirely  suppressed, 
although  the  day  of  the  illicit  distiller  is  passing. 

In  1791  Congress  passed  a  law  laying  duties  on 
stills  and  on  all  whisky  distilled  in  the  United  States. 
This  bore  heavily  on  the  people  of  Western  Pennsyl- 
vania as  they  had  no  other  way  by  which  to  get 
money  for  their  grain.  There  was  no  market  except 
east  of  the  iVllegheny  Mountains,  and  no  transportation. 

The  farmer  resented  the  law  because  whisky  was 
the  principal  means  by  which  he  could  convert  his 
product  into  cash,  and  in  the  form  of  whisky  a  horse 
could   pack   the   equivalent   of   ten    bushels   of  grain. 

The  indignation  of  the  people  was  universal;  the 
farmer  believed  he  had  all  but  divine  right  to  make 
his  corn  into  whisky,  just  as  he  had  the  right  to 
make  his  corn  into  meal.  The  people  looked  upon 
this  duty  as  very  like  the  taxes  they  had  complained 
of  under  the  English  Government  against  which  they 
had  rebelled,  and  they  rebelled  again  against  what 
they  regarded  as  unjust  taxation. 

The  philosophy  of  the  mountain  distiller  touching 
upon  his  vested  rights  in  the  manufacture  of  his  corn 
into  drinkables  or  eatables  is  not  hard  to  digest.  In 
fact,  in  my  own  time  it  has  been  recognized  as  logic 
in  the  courts.  The  trial  of  old  Bill  Pritts,  a  Somerset 
County  "moonshiner"  is  a  case  in  point.  He  was 
acquitted.  And  it  was  asserted  at  the  time  that  half 
the  cases  made  against  "moonshiners"  were  made 
necessary  by  Federal  law,  not  by  the  law  of  common 

107 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

sense.  An  honest  juryman  declined  to  vote  that  a 
man  be  sent  to  prison  for  an  act  which  in  his  heart 
he  could  not  brand  as  wrong,  when  the  act  was  that 
of  distilling  his  own  whisky.  So  the  ungodly  flourish 
even  on  juries.  In  this  case  it  was  related  that  the 
jury  sampled  and  drank  up  the  evidence.  Nor  was 
there  any  popular  protest  against  such  conduct. 

*     *     *     * 

By  the  way,  our  old  friend  Uncle  Bill  Andrews  can 
tell  you  all  about  old  Bill  Pritts  as  he  saw  him  many 
times  in  his  boyhood  days  in  Bedford  County,  and  his 
recollections  are  not  altogether  unsympathetic.  Old 
Pritts  was  a  typical  mountaineer,  typical  American  if 
you  please.  This  simple,  godl}^  soul,  filled  with  the 
lure  of  life  as  handed  down  through  generation  after 
generation,  said,  "my  folks  made  'licker'  ever  since  I 
can  remember.  My  paw  had  two  brothers.  Both 
dead  now  but  they  were  in  a  'still'  with  paw  for  so 
many  years  that  time  don't  take  no  reckoning  of  it, 
I  guess.  Paw  and  my  two  uncles  held  out  that  they 
was  in  legal  trade.  They  never  was  bothered  by 
revenuers  nor  no  one  came  prying  into  their  affairs 
at  all." 

•  ^  :):  H:  H< 

There  is  a  story  told  of  a  Kentucky  Congressman 
from  one  of  the  mountain  districts.  Just  about  the 
time  the  marble  bathrooms  were  installed  in  that 
ancient  pile,  the  House  of  Representatives,  a  delegation 
of  mountaineers  from  his  district  paid  Washington 
a  visit  and  called  on  him,  who  was  just  at  that  moment 
laving  his  corporosity  in  a  "sumptuous"  bath  tub. 
His  unsophisticated  secretary  asked  if  he  would  show 
them  into  the  apartment. 

108 


THOMAS    HUGHES 

" Goddlemity,  No!"  roared  the  Congressman.  "If 
these  fellows  thought  that  I  didn't  wash  in  the  Potomac 
River  and  dry  myself  with  my  undershirt,  they'd 
go  back  home  and  beat  me." 

JJC  •T*  'I*  'I* 

Congress  later  modified  the  law  of  1791  but  to  no 
purpose,  and  finally  President  Washington,  after  order- 
ing out  fifteen  thousand  militia,  proceeded  to  Bedford, 
whence  he  gave  out  instructions  to  General  Lee  of 
Virginia  who  marched  his  troops  to  Pittsburgh. 

With  this  show  of  force  the  insurgents  were  awed 
into  submission  to  the  law.  Many  of  the  insurgents 
were  imprisoned  for  various  terms. 

Our  local  historian.  Dr.  Erasmus  Wilson,  states  that: 

"The  story  of  this  insurrection  has  in  it  more  of 
thrilling  interest  than  the  best  of  the  historical  novels. 
The  greatest  men  in  the  land,  from  President  Wash- 
ington down,  were  concerned  in  it.  Among  these 
were  Albert  Gallatin,  Senator  Ross,  H.  H.  Bracken- 
ridge,  Gen.  Neville  —  in  fact  all  the  men  of  note  in 
the  State. 

"The  meeting  on  Braddock's  field,  August  1,  1794, 
was  a  particularly  notable  occasion.  The  town  of 
Pittsburgh  practically  surrendered  to  the  insurgents 
gathered  there.  These  people  had  come  to  drive  out 
or  kill  the  agents  of  the  Government,  and  threatened 
to  loot  the  town.  This  was  what  the  citizens  most 
feared,  and  in  order  to  avert  it  they  had  decided  to 
join  the  insurgents,  in  sympathy,  if  not  in  sentiment. 

"A  committee  of  twenty-one,  composed  of  leading 
citizens,  followed  by  the  town  militia  two  hundred 
and  fifty   strong,   under  command   of   Gen.   Wilkins, 

109 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

marched  out  to  the  camp  of  the  insurrectionists.  There 
they  were  met  bj^  about  seven  thousand  men  armed 
and  ready  either  to  parley  or  fight.  And  what  was 
more  to  the  point,  they  were  in  dead  earnest  and 
meant  to  shoot  and  kill. 

"A  series  of  resolutions,  which  had  been  passed  at 
a  meeting  of  citizens,  expressing  sympathy  with  the 
insurrectionists,  and  promising  to  use  all  possible 
influence  with  President  Washington  to  secure  a 
suspension  of  the  objectionable  excise  law,  and  with 
Congress  to  secure  its  repeal,  was  presented  and 
accepted. 

"But  this  did  not  stop  the  President  from  calling 
for  fifteen  thousand  troops  and  ordering  them  on  to 
Pittsburgh  at  once.  When  they  arrived  in  the 
latter  part  of  October,  our  leading  citizens  had  great 
times  trying  to  square  their  actions  on  Braddock 
field  with  their  claims  of  loyalty  to  the  Government." 

*  5f!  *  * 

There  is  a  breezy  independence  about  these  moun- 
taineers, and  the  following  story  is  quite  refreshing 
in  these  days  of  graft  and  grab.  The  oldest  son  of 
old  man  Stills,  who  was  very  poor  and  had  a  large 
family  on  his  hands,  was  invalided  home  from  the 
Spanish  war  and  died.  The  local  authorities  sent  away 
and  got  a  blank  form  of  application  to  the  government 
for  funeral  expenses,  to  which  the  family  was  entitled 
according  to  law.  It  was  filled  out,  and  given  to  the 
old  man  to  sign.  But  Stills  peremptorily  refused  to 
accept  from  the  nation  what  was  due  his  dead  son. 
"I  ain't  that  hard  pushed  yet,"  was  his  first  and  last 
word  on  the  subject. 

110 


THOMAS    HUGHES 

Yet  these  people  have  an  eye  to  business. 

"This  is  strange,"  exclaimed  a  traveller  in  the  Penn- 
sylvania "moonshine  belt."  "I  placed  my  small 
satchel  on  this  stump  here,  and  walked  a  few  yards 
to  admire  the  scenery,  and  when  I  returned  it  contained 
a  quart  bottle  of  strong  whisky." 

"That's  jes'  the  way  with  you  city  folks,"  said 
the  mountain  patriarch,  "You  don't  give  us  credit 
for  no  intelligence.  You  think  we  wait  for  a  house 
to  fall  on  us  when  there  is  a  dollar  in  sight." 

*     *     *     * 

It  is  almost  two  generations  now  since  Charles 
Kingsley,  above  referred  to,  the  intimate  friend  of 
Thomas  Hughes,  and  his  school  practically  revolu- 
tionized English  religion  by  their  insistence  on  the 
importance  of  the  doctrine  of  God's  Fatherhood.  "The 
Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man"  came 
to  be  a  current  phrase  of  the  religious  market-places. 

With  the  passing  of  time  the  phrase  has  worn  a 
little  thin,  has  it  not.f^  It  was  inevitable.  It  is  quite 
possible  for  religious  phrases  to  lose  their  validity  and 
come  in  time  to  witness  against  the  very  hope  which 
they  once  proclaimed  and  fostered. 

"The  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of 
man"  was  at  first  regarded  as  permanently  banishing 
all  the  subtleties  of  theology  from  the  sphere  of  religion. 

Such  an  attraction  one  can  understand.  Half  a 
century  ago  men  longed,  not  unnaturally,  to  be  de- 
livered from  a  theology  which  was  no  longer  very 
much  alive.  But  they  thought  of  theology  as  a  thral- 
dom from  which  they  were  about  to  escape  permanently 
and  finally.     There  they  were  grievously,  hopelessly 

111 


LETTERS    TO   MY   SON 

in  the  wrong.  Theology  is  not  necessarily  a  thraldom, 
and  we  cannot  escape  from  it  whether  it  is  or  no. 

While  religion  lasts  theology  will  last.  It  is  the 
human  side  of  religion.  It  is  religion  as  it  is  seen 
after  it  has  been  introduced  into  the  world  of  fact. 
Theology  humanizes  religion.  It  is  the  attempt  to 
map  out  the  facts  of  a  revelation  in  the  actual  world  of 
men.  If  it  becomes  lifeless  and  useless,  it  is  because 
it  no  longer  discharges  the  function  of  reconciling 
fact  with  idea. 

Men  have  been  wrong  in  thinking  theology  hurtful 
to  religion.  They  were  wrong  in  thinking  a  revelation 
so  great,  so  profound,  so  revolutionary  as  that  of  man's 
spiritual  kinship  with  God  could  exist  without  trans- 
forming the  whole  world  of  fact,  the  whole  system  of 
thought. 

Today,  thank  God,  we  are  beginning  to  be  religious 
realists  and  not  religion  sentimentalists.  We  are 
beginning  to  understand  that  the  real  question  of 
religion  is  whether  we  are  to  seek  and  establish  eternal 
values,  that  it  is  the  spirit  of  sacrifice  to  the  uttermost 
that  makes  the  only  possible  human  brotherhood  — 
that  God's  will  is  wrought  not  by  manifestoes,  but  by 
martyrdom.  The  whole  Christian  religion  is  based  on 
sacrifice.    That  is  the  lesson  of  Calvary. 


112 


LETTER  VIII 

LORD   COLERIDGE 

WHEN  Baron  Coleridge,  then  Lord  Chief 
Justice  of  England,  visited  the  United  States, 
as  the  guest  of  the  New  York  Bar,  though, 
informally,  he  was  the  guest  of  the  nation  at  large, 
Cincinnati  was  included  among  his  stopping  places, 
and  it  was  my  privilege  to  meet  him  twice,  the  first 
time  being  on  a  short  trip  he  made  over  the  Cincinnati 
Southern  Railway  (the  new  name  Queen  &  Crescent 
not  then  having  come  into  use),  and  the  second  at  a 
dinner  given  in  his  honor  at  the  old  St.  Nicholas  Hotel. 
On  the  second  occasion  it  can  only  be  said  that  I  saw 
and  heard  him.  Not  so,  however,  going  over  the  rail- 
way. 

To  my  immense  delight  I  went  along  on  the  trip 
as  acting  secretary  to  the  President  of  the  railroad 
and,  although  perhaps  modesty  should  forbid  the 
statement,  on  that  day  as  it  turned  out,  I  happened 
to  be  a  more  or  less  useful  person.  Like  our  friend 
Uncle  Frank  Moore,  Lord  Coleridge  had  a  habit  of 
nodding  off  to  sleep,  only  for  a  moment,  in  the  middle 
of  a  conversation,  but  he  did  not  lose  the  thread  of  it, 
so  we  see  that  sometimes  great  minds  may  nod  as  well 
as  run  in  the  same  channels.  Mr.  Moore,  by  the  way, 
was  living  temporarily  in  Boston  when  Lord  Coleridge 

113 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 


was  the  guest  of  General  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  then 
Governor  of  Massachusetts,  and  he  saw  him  a  number 
of  times,  and  it  was  said  that  Lord  Coleridge  was 
greatly  impressed  with  the  personality  of  the  "cock- 
eyed son  of  Destiny,"  and  that  they  formed  a  warm 
friendship. 


* 


Lord  Coleridge  very  naturally  asked  about  the  early 
history  of  Kentucky  and  Ohio,  and  if  ever  a  fellow 
was  cocked  and  primed  for  an  exam,  so  to  speak,  I 
was.  As  you  young  fellows  say  nowadays,  I  "  smeared  " 
it. 

At  that  period  I  had  been  reading,  and  was  still 
reading,  not  for  amusement,  but  reading  as  an  earnest 
student  everything  I  could  get  my  hands  on  concern- 
ing the  History  of  the  Colonial  period,  the  formation 
of  the  United  States  and  Territories,  and  particularly 
the  History  of  the  State  which  was  then  my  home, 
and  if  the  distinguished  visitor  had  purposely  based 
some  of  his  remarks  and  historical  enquiries  on  a 
previous  knowledge  of  how  most  of  my  spare  time  had 
been  used,  they  could  not  have  come  more  aptly  to 
my  hand.  Happily  I  had  learned  the  lesson  to  be  a 
good  listener  and  was  careful  to  answer  only  such 
questions  as  were  directed  to  me.  This,  it  is  unneces- 
sary to  say,  is  not  related  for  personal  glorification,  but 
simply  to  again  illustrate  to  you  how  easy  it  is  to 
acquire  useful  knowledge,  and  how  easy  it  is  to  carry 
in  one's  head.  Cultivate  the  habit  of  using  odd  unoc- 
cupied moments  in  learning  something.  Most  of  it  is 
sure  to  be  of  value  later.  Keep  your  mind  in  practice. 
The  fruit  of  this  valuable  and,  as  I  think,  delightful 


LORD    COLERIDCE 

habit,  you  will  gather  in  years  to  come  and  it  will  be  a 
constant  pleasure  in  your  later  life. 

He  asked  about  Daniel  Boone  (a  man  of  Welsh 
descent)  and  his  company,  the  first  white  men*  to 
penetrate  the  Kentucky  wilderness,  and  seemed  pleased 
to  know^  that  it  all  happened  during  the  Colonial 
period.  He  also  spoke  about  Henry  Clay  and  was 
interested  to  learn  that  the  old  Clay  mansion,  Ashland, 
near  Lexington,  was  at  that  moment  occupied  by  Clay's 
son-in-law.  Major  H.  C.  McDowell,  whose  surname 
is  Scottish.  It  was  under  this  hospitable  roof  that  I 
tasted  my  first  real  mint  julep. 

*  *     *     * 

It  used  to  be  said  that  the  easiest  wav  to  commit 
suicide  was  to  call  a  Kentuckian  a  liar,  or  tell  him  he 
was  a  poor  judge  of  whisky. 

*  *     *     * 

A  country  gentleman  in  Virginia,  of  the  old  school, 
was  entertaining  a  party  of  friends  and  they  lingered 
in  the  dining  room  over  their  cigars.  The  decanter 
showed  signs  of  wear  and  the  mint  bowl  was  waning, 
when  the  host  called  his  butler  and  solemnly  said, 
"Diggs,  refill  the  decanter,  and  go  out  and  mow  some 
more  mint." 

•T*  'P  T^  T* 

Probably  the  old-fashioned  julep  is  in  its  decadence 
as  a  public  drink,  but  it  does  not  follow  that  the  art 
of  constructing  this  famous  Southern  refreshment  is 
lost.  On  the  contrary  there  are  many  old  gardens 
where  the  mint  bed  under  the  southern  wall  still  blooms 
luxuriantly;  where  the  white  fingers  of  household  angels 
come  every  day  at  the  right  season  of  the  year  to 

*Mr.  R.  C.  Stoll  of  Lexington  tells  me  there  was  an  expedition  prior  to  Boone's  but  it  Jid   not 
result  in  any  settlement  and  there  is  little  record  of  it. 

115 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

pluck  the  aromatic  herb  with  which  to  build  a  julep 
for  dear  old  grand  dad,  who  sits  on  the  shady  verandah, 
his  mind  wandering  in  the  past  back  to  the  golden  days 
of  his  youth.  With  her  sleeves  rolled  up,  the  dainty 
granddaughter  stirs  sugar  in  a  couple  of  tablespoons 
of  crystal  water,  packs  the  heavy  cut-glass  tumbler 
with  crushed  ice,  pours  in  the  mellow  spirit  and  then 
daintily  thrusts  the  mint  sprays  into  the  crevices. 

While  I,  personally,  entirely  dissent  from  his  view, 
perhaps  it  was  of  the  mint  julep  that  the  poet  wrote: 

One  sip  of  this 

Will  bathe  the  drooping  spirits  in  delight 

Beyond  the  bliss  of  dreams. 

Be  wise  and  taste. 

*  5f:  *  * 

But,  to  be  serious,  times  are  changing,  and  public 
sentiment  especially  on  the  question  of  drinking  has 
changed  too.  Today  Kentucky  is  almost  a  prohibition 
state.  The  situation  could  not  be  better  stated  than 
in  the  following  lines  taken  from  a  humorous  effusion 
by  a  member  of  the  Kentucky  bar: 

Lay  the  jest  about  the  julep  in  the  camphor  balls  at  last, 
For  the  miracle  has  happened  and  the  olden  days  are  past; 
That    which    makes    Milwaukee    thirsty  does  not  foam  in 

Tennessee, 
And  the  lid  in  old  Missouri  is  as  tight  locked  as  can  be — 
Oh,  the  comic  paper  Kurnel  and  his  cronies  well  may  sigh, 
For  the  mint  is  waving  gaily,  but  the  south  is  going  dry ! 

*      *      *      * 

Lord  Coleridge  spoke  of  the  relations  of  the  States 
to  the  Federal  power,  and  had  a  perfect  understanding 
of  the  working  of  our  Constitution,  which  is  something 
that  cannot  be  said  of  Englishmen  as  a  rule,  no  matter 
what  class  of  society  or  professional  life  they  may  hail 
from.     Mr.  W.  B.  Yeats,  the  Irish  dramatic  poet,  has 

116 


LORD    COLERIDGE 

somewhere  stated  that  "Ignorance  of  history,  not  only 
of  the  world,  but  of  their  own  country,  is,  it  is  to  be 
feared,  characteristic  of  the  inhabitants  of  these 
islands." 

There  was  an  enlightened  Member  of  Parliament 
who  remarked  after  the  impeachment  of  Governor 
Sulzer:  "Now  that  New  York  has  got  rid  of  its  Gov- 
ernor, w^ho  is  going  to  be  Vice-President?" 

*     *     *     * 

But  the  most  wonderful  evidence  of  the  truth  of 
Mr.  Yeats's  remark  was  furnished  by  Sir  Francis  H. 
Champneys,  Bart,  who  occupies  the  exalted  position 
of  President  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Medicine.  In  his 
opening  address,  printed  in  the  official  bulletin  (1913) 

he  says: — 

"  We  read  this  morning  in  the  paper  that  it  is  the 
jubilee  celebration  of  the  Amalgamation  between 
the  Northern  and  Southern  States  of  America,  at 
Gettysburg  on  July  4.  Fifty  years  have  elapsed 
since,  in  1863,  the  victory  at  Gettysburg  took  place. 
It  was  a  crucial  period  of  the  war,  and  after  that 
the  United  States  was  formed.  It  is  interesting  to 
remember  that,  and  to  remember  that  it  has  taken 
fifty  years  not  only  to  amalgamate  but  to  consoli- 
date the  United  States,  which  is  another  thing. 
And  the  proof  of  this  is  that  the  present  President 
of  the  United  States  is  the  first  Southern  person 
who  ever  occupied  that  position.  And  I  read  in  the 
Times  today  that  he  at  first  refused  to  be  present  at 
Gettysburg,  fifty  years  after  the  defeat  of  his  side; 
but  that  he  afterwards  reconsidered  his  action  and 
determined  to  be  present. 

"I  see  in  the  papers  that  this  meeting  of  the 
veterans  on  the  field  of  Gettysburg  is  not  altogether 
free  from  risk  for  them,  and  I  see  that  a  provident 
Government  has  stacked  a  thousand  coffins  in  full 
view  of  the  veterans  in  the  park  for  anybody  to 
take  advantage  of  who  feels  inclined  to  do  so. 

117 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

"At  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  United 
States  of  America  each  State  reserved  its  own 
peculiar  rights;  and  with  so  much  tenacity  have 
they  preserved  them,  that  a  man  may  be  married 
in  one  State  and  not  married  in  another." 

At  first  blush  we  might  be  tempted  to  think  that 
Sir  Francis  himself  and  his  conceptions  of  the  American 
Constitution  are  figments  of  some  enterprising  news- 
paper man's  fertile  mind.  Not  at  all.  He  is  a  real 
Baronet.  He  is  an  M.  A.,  M.  D.,  (Oxon),  and  F.  R. 
C.  P.  Of  his  education  we  read  "Winchester  (scholar); 
Brasenose  Coll.  Oxford;  1st  class  in  science;  Radcliffe 

Travelling  Fellow." 

*     *     *     * 

Nor  is  the  operation  of  the  Constitution  quite  clear 
to  other  peoples,  as  witness  the  irritating  attitude  of 
Japan  over  land  legislation  in  the  State  of  California, 
held  by  the  Japanese  government  to  be  a  discrimination 
against  its  citizens.  The  Federal  power  has  no  legal 
authority  to  interfere  with  State  legislation  in  Cali- 
fornia, and  the  State  has  a  perfect  right  to  select  her 
own  company,  and  to  protect  her  citizens  from  being 
crowded  by  aliens  no  matter  whence  they  come.  But 
perhaps  the  Japanese  have  an  ulterior  motive  in  not 
understanding.  Their  policy  seems  to  run  along  the 
lines  of  the  railroad  labor  unions.  The  latter  always 
make  demands,  and  they  usually  gain  something  by 
compromise,  falsely  called  arbitration.  So  the  Japanese 
continue  to  aim  at  the  moon  and  usually  manage  to  at 
least  hit  a  chimney  stack.  In  other  words  they  always 
get  something. 

They  have  announced  that  South  America  is  within 
"their  sphere  of  influence."     If  there  is  any  adage  in 

118 


LORD    COLERIDGE 

Japanese  philosophy  that  contains  the  idea  of  the 
inadvisabihty  of  "monkeying  with  a  buzz  saw,"  it 
should  commend  itself  strongly  to  the  elder  statesmen 
at  Tokyo.  Japan's  best  asset  in  the  past  has  been  the 
friendship  of  the  United  States,  and  so  it  will  be  in  the 
future  if  she  is  wise  enough  to  cultivate  it.  To  admit 
Japanese  to  citizenship  would,  I  believe,  be  a  gigantic 
national  blunder.  The  Asiatic  lives  to  himself  and  will 
always  be  an  alien.  Our  customs,  beliefs  and  patriotic 
sentiments  do  not  touch  him.  It  is  as  Kipling  says, 
"East  is  east  and  West  is  west,"  and  so  it  will  remain. 
The  fear  of  an  industrial  peril  is  a  small  part  of  the 
question.  Japan  is  a  great  power  and  her  aspirations 
are  justly  great.  With  her  manufactured  products  she 
is  knocking  at  the  door  of  the  markets  of  the  world. 
That  is  one  thing,  but  the  absorption  of  Japanese  into 
citizenship  is  another.  We  want  people  who  will 
assimilate  with  us  and  there  is  no  use  trying  this  with 
Asiatics;  it  cannot  be  done.  Their  views  of  life  are  so 
diametrically    opposed    to  ours  that  such  a  course  is 

impossible. 

*     *     *     * 

In  their  desire  to  prevent  what  they  fear  may  be 
an  inundation  by  Japanese,  or,  at  any  rate,  over  immi- 
gration of  them,  the  people  of  California  are  not 
actuated  by  any  assumption  of  race  superiority.  It 
is  not  a  case  of  race  prejudice.  What  does  actuate 
them  is  a  sense  of  race  difference.  Because  two  things 
differ  from  one  another  it  is  not  a  reason  for  believing 
that  one  is  superior  to  the  other.  It  is  always  more 
difficult  to  absorb  that  which  is  verv  different  and 
unlike.     The  greater  the  unlikeness   the  greater  the 

119 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

difficulty.  The  future  of  this  nation  and  other  nations 
like  Canada  and  Australia,  which  issued  from  the 
British  Isles,  depends  largely  upon  their  power  of 
absorption  of  successive  additions  to  their  numbers. 
If  the  process  of  absorbing  certain  additions  be  diffi- 
cult or  impracticable,  then  such  additions  should  be 

rejected. 

*  *     *     * 

No  veneer  of  western  civilization  has  mitigated  the 
innate  contempt,  the  burning  detestation  which  the 
Japanese  have  in  excelsis  for  all  white  men.  Their 
view  of  the  "white  peril"  finds  expression  in  the  re- 
fusal to  allow  foreigners  to  own  land,  because  such 
ownership  would  be  a  "pollution  of  the  sacred  soil." 
In  judging  the  attitude  of  California  toward  the  settle- 
ment of  Japanese  in  their  midst  it  is  well  to  keep  these 
facts  in  mind.* 

Any  attempt  to  mix  the  races  would  be  to  disturb 
both,  like  an  attempt  to  effect  a  reconciliation  between 
science  and  religion.  Such  attempts  are  a  warning 
to  science  to  keep  within  her  own  field,  and  any  one 
who  is  watching  the  currents  of  thought  today  knows 
that  the  warning  has  begun  to  find  heedful  ears.  The 
entente  between  them  we  welcome. 

*  *     *     * 

Lord  Coleridge  seemed  deeply  impressed  with  the 
potentiality  of  the  United  States,  yet  it  was  not  the 
mere  size  of  the  country  which  struck  him  most.  He 
said,  men  are  in  human  affairs  the  great  factor  of  results; 
and  men  are  great,  not  in  proportion  to  the  largeness, 
but  in  proportion  to  the  smallness,  of  their  natural 

*Note  1915.  Before  accepting  all  I  have  said  on  the  Japanese  question  you  had  better  give  it  some 
study.  Since  this  manuscript  was  written  two  years  ago  my  views  have  come  under  the  modify- 
ing influence  of  our  friend  Major  W.  G.  Lyddon,  R.A.,  who  is  uncommonly  well-informed  on  the 
subject. 

120 


LORD    COLERIDGE 

advantages.  Size  is  a  commonplace  incident  in  the 
history  of  a  nation.  Athens,  Rome,  Holland,  England 
— all  these  places  and  powers  have  affected  the  des- 
tinies of  mankind,  and  every  one  of  them  had  but 
a  little  bit  of  the  earth's  surface  to  stand  upon.  Some- 
one has  said  that  the  St.  Lawrence,  the  Mississippi 
and  the  Amazon  were  better  worth  knowing  about 
than  the  Tiber  or  the  Orontes  or  the  Illyssus,  because 
they  pour  into  the  sea  untold  more  millions  of  gallons 
of  water  every  hour  than  the  smaller  rivers — that  the 
battle  of  Marathon  was  not  worth  knowing  about 
because  the  slaughter  was  not  great.  But  the  battle 
of  Marathon  stayed  the  tide  of  the  Persian  War,  and 
rolled  back  the  waves  of  barbaric  invasion;  if  the 
battle  of  Marathon  preserved  for  us  the  art,  the  poetry, 
the  philosophy,  the  history,  the  oratory,  the  intellect, 
the  freedom  of  the  Greek  nation  it  was  far  more  worth 
knowing  about  than  all  the  fearful  slaughters  of  Genghiz 
Khan,  Attila,  Julius  Caesar  or  the  First  Napoleon, 
the  four  greatest  butchers*  that  a  merciful  God  ever 
suffered  to  sweep  over  and  devastate  His  earth. 

What  he  did  admire  was  the  hundreds,  thousands, 
tens  of  thousands  of  comfortable  solid  houses,  more 
or  less  large,  lived  in  and  occupied  by  the  owners  of 
them;  intelligent  farmers  ow^ning  their  farms;  "your 
cultivated  and  educated  gentlemen,"  he  said,  "own 
their  houses,  your  artisans  and  working  people  own 
their  cottages.  They  are  their  own  houses  and,  there- 
fore, are  precious  to  them.  If  they  improve  them  they 
improve  them  for  themselves.  If,  in  Scriptural  lan- 
guage, they  'plant  a  vineyard'  they,  or  their  children, 
eat  the  fruits  thereof.    W^hat  a  state  of  satisfaction  and 

*Note  191.5.     They  pale  into  nothingness  before  modern  Prussianism. 

121 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

content  this  produces  in  time  of  peace,  and  what  an 
irresistible  force  it  gave  you  when  the  war  broke  out. 

"This  is  your  great  glory;  this  is  your  real  great- 
ness; this  is  your  happiness — keep  it — guard  it,  cling 
to  it,  never  let  it  go,  never  be  betrayed  into  the  pur- 
suit of  the  false  glitter  but  real  misery  and  discontent 
which  always  have  followed,  which  always  will  follow 
in  the  train  of  feudalism.  Believe  me,  there  is  not  in 
the  mind  of  any  honest  Englishman  a  trace  of  jealousy, 
a  shade  of  grudge  when  he  thinks  of  the  magnificence 
of  your  future  and  your  present  grand  development." 

'Tis  not  the  clod  beneath  our  feet  we  name 
Our  country.  Each  heaven-sanctioned  tie  the  same. 
Law,  manners,  language,  faith,  ancestral  blood, 
Domestic  honour,  awe  of  womanhood. 

*      *      *      * 

Lord  Coleridge  indicated  a  hope  that  the  people 
of  the  two  great  English-speaking  countries  would 
understand  each  other  better,  would,  indeed,  see  the 
necessity  of  understanding  each  other  better,  not  only 
because  in  our  commercial  relations  England  was  and 
is  our  best  customer — she  takes  more  of  our  products 
than  all  the  rest  of  Europe  put  together — ^but  for 
mutual  protection. 

It  was  difficult  to  see  the  point  of  the  last  proposi- 
tion at  that  time  when  the  sentiment  of  the  average 
citizen  in  this  country  was  decidedly  anti-English, 
when,  indeed,  the  Irish  vote  controlled  politically 
all  our  great  cities,  and  when  the  activities  of  so-called 
Irish  patriots  in  England  and  Ireland  were  punctuated 
by  the  dagger  and  the  blunderbuss;  when  their  cam- 
paign was  maiming  cattle,  assassination  and  dynamite 
— conducted  largely  from  New  York,  and  financed 
wholly  by  American  money. 

122 


LORD    COLERIDGE 

Lord  Coleridge  knew  that  the  Irish  Brotherhood 
in  New  York  had  sentenced  him  to  death  for  the  part 
he  had  taken  in  the  trial  of  dynamite  conspirators, 
and  his  Government  had  especially  warned  him  not 
to  go  to  Canada,  and  with  great  regret  he  had  to 
abandon  that  part  of  his  program. 

*  *     *     * 

It  was  not  until  the  administration  of  Mr.  Abram 
S.  Hewitt,  many  years  afterward,  that  the  Irish  flag 
was  discontinued  as  one  of  the  emblems  of  civic  author- 
ity in  New  York.  It  ceased  to  float  over  City  Hall 
on  St.  Patrick's  day  or  any  other  day  after  he  came 

into  power. 

*  *     *     * 

The  comic  papers  of  thirty  to  forty  years  ago  tell 
the  story.     The  following  illustrates  it. 

A  newly  arrived  Irishman  had  just  passed  through 
Castle  Garden  and  was  wandering  aimlessly  along  the 
street.  He  was  suddenly  stopped  by  the  sight  of  a 
familiar  face,  and  to  his  utter  astonishment  the  owner 
of  the  face  was  radiant  in  a  new  uniform  and  swinging 
a  club.  "How  is  this  O'Brien.^"  said  the  new  comer, 
"an'  ye  only  left  Ireland  tree  monts  ago." 

"Oh,  Mr.  Meehan,"  said  the  policeman,  "it  was 
all  throo'  the  polutical  unflooence  of  me  brother  Mike, 
who  is  an  Alderman  in  the  City  of  New  York. " 

"Yes,  but  Mike  didn't  lave  Ireland  more  than  six 
months   ago   himself." 

"That's  all  right  me  bhoy,  but  our  Mike  is  a  shmart 
lad.  He  wouldn't  lave  the  ould  counthry  until  they 
gave  him  the  nomination  for  Alderman." 

123 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

We  must  not  pass  the  Irish  flag  without  remarking 
that  the  national  color  of  Ireland  is  not  green.  It  is, 
and  always  has  been  blue,  (that  is,  heraldic  blue, 
ultramarine,  not  as  some  people  have  thought,  sky 
blue).  Green  never  was  the  national  color  of  Ireland. 
The  national  color  is  taken  from  the  ground  of  the  arms. 
Similarly  the  ribbon  of  the  Order  of  St.  Patrick  is  sky 

blue. 

*  *     *     * 

When  the  Brooklyn  Bridge  was  finished  in  the 
early  eighties  the  Irishmen  of  New  York  made  a  formal 
protest  against  its  being  opened  on  Queen  Victoria's 
birthday,  lest  this  chance  occurrence  should  be  mis- 
construed into  a  compliment  to  England. 

In  those  days  there  was  a  newspaper  published  in 
New  York  which  was  called  The  United  Irishman,  and 
one  of  the  funny  papers  of  the  period  came  out  with  a 
jest  at  its  expense.  It  was  the  statement  that  its 
name  was  a  contradiction  in  term  because  no  more 
than  one  Irishman  could  unite. 

*  *     *     * 

None  of  this  record  is  in  the  most  remote  sense 
intended  as  the  slightest  reflection  on  Ireland  or  Irish- 
men. It  is  merely  the  statement  of  a  condition  well 
within  the  recollection  of  men  still  young,  or  who  at 
least,  like  myself,  try  to  keep  young.  And  to  keep 
young  there  is  no  stimulus  equal  to  the  companionship 
of  youth.    It  is  a  source  of  inspiration.   Remember  this. 


lU 


LETTER  IX 

LORD  COLERIDGE 

{Continued) 

SO  far  as  the  Irish  race  and  the  "Big"  church  are 
concerned,  I  hold,  and  have  always  held,  that 
whether  we  like  it  or  dislike  it,  all  serious-minded 
people  of  ever^^  faith  must  admit  that  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  is  the  cement  which  more  than  any 
other  one  single  agency  is  holding  civilization  together, 
for  if  its  influence  were  removed.  Socialism  and  Anarchy 
would  rise  rampant  in  the  world.  The  debt  of  civiliza- 
tion to  the  Catholic  Church  is  one  of  the  greatest 
single  debts  in  the  world.  It  has  a  history  extending 
over  a  period  of  nearly  tw^o  thousand  years,  and 
embraces  some  two  hundred  millions  of  the  human 
race  as  its  adherents. 

Reverence  is  due  to  this  great  fundamental  force 
in  modern  civilization  working  toward  the  common 
coming  of  the  Kingdom  for  which  every  earnest  man 
and  woman  is  striving,  each  in  his  own  way,  and,  by 
striving,  becomes  the  brother  of  all  men. 

:)s  :)c  >K  Hs 

The  first  thought  for  each  of  us  is  whether  his  own 
religion  is  good;  whether  it  is  vital  and  active;  whether 
it  is  allied  with  what  is  best  in  us  against  what  is  worst; 
whether  it  increases  our  respect  for  the  consciences  of 

125 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

others.  Who  is  my  neighbor?  That  is  the  question  of 
today.  Let  narrowness  be  set  aside  and  the  mighty 
forces  of  Christianity  work  together  in  the  spirit  of 
witnessing  for  the  truth  by  all  the  forms  of  testimon}^ 
that  can  reach  mankind. 

Little  by  little,  the  conviction  is  growing  and  spread- 
ing among  our  Protestant  bodies  that  the  various  and 
particular  religious  tenets  which  each  holds  are  of 
comparatively  small  importance;  that  they  are  funda- 
mentally the  same;  that  the  emphasis  in  religion  should 
be  laid  upon  a  broader  charity,  and  upon  character 
and  regard  for  others;  that  the  thing  to  strive  after 
is  to  make  life  here  and  now  better  and  happier  for 
every  one.  Having  insensibly  and  unconsciously  come 
to  this  view,  though  some  are  not  yet  quite  prepared 
to  admit  it  in  the  broad  question  of  the  uplift  of  the 
human  race,  the  unimportance  of  doctrinal,  sectarian, 
and  ecclesiastical  sub-divisions  has  become  so  apparent 
that  the  churches  are  drawing  together  as  never  before, 
working  in  harmony  for  a  common  object,  and  religi- 
ous intolerance  is  gradually  becoming  less  acute.  Men 
of  all  faiths  are  day  by  day  finding  that  their  agree- 
ments are  greater  than  their  differences,  and  that  even 
while  difi^ering  they  can  do  much  together  in  united 
effort  and  in  united  service.  Is  it  not  obvious  that  our 
differences  are  largely  differences  in  the  degree  to  which 
we  cling  to  inherited  beliefs  and  practices  because 
thev  have  the  comfortable  sanction  of  old  use  and 
custom.^ 

The  so-called  heathen  world  can  never  become 
convinced  of  the  superiority  and  desirability  of  Christi- 
anity until  its  discordant  sects  get  together  and  adopt 
a  common  platform,  not  of  belief   necessarily,  but  of 


LORD    COLERIDGE 

spirit  and  effort  for  the  uplift  of  all  mankind.     There 
are  many  signs  that  the  time  is  approaching  when  this 
will  be  accomplished,  and  one  of  the  surest  of  them  is 
the  waning  of  intolerance,  and  in  this  respect,  our  own 
church  occupies  most   advanced  and  rational  ground. 
We  stand  for  church  unity  and  we  need  to  realize  the 
strength   of  the  forces    which   confront  our  common 
Christianity  today.     Let  us  seek  for  points  of  agree- 
ment rather  than  the   reverse,  and  avail  ourselves  of 
every  opportunity  for  working  with  other  communions 
for  the  social  and  moral  welfare  of  our  nation.     Let  us 
ask  ourselves  what  are  the  things  which  in  the  provi- 
dence of  God  the  various  communions  may  contribute 
toward   this   gr^at   and    richly    varied  comprehensive 
catholicity  of  the  future  reunited  church.    This  is  the 
great  question  for  the  Protestant  bodies  to  work  out. 
When  this  is  accomplished,    then,  and  not  till  then, 
can  there  be  common  ground  with  the  Catholic  Church. 
Many     Episcopalians    who    hold    moderate    views 
doctrinally    and    ecclesiastically,     maintain    that    our 
church  occupies  an  exceptionally  favorable  position  as 
a  center   of  future   union    between   the    extremes   of 
Christendom.     She  alone,  they  say,  can  offer  herself 
as  a  mediator  to  the  sacerdotalisin  of  Rome  on  the  one 
side,  and  the  evangelicalism  of  Protestant  dissent  on 
the  other.    This  might  seem  to  put  the  church  in  the 
role  of  a  Mr.  Facing-Both-Ways,  and  it  may  have  its 
disadvantages  as  well  as  its  advantages.     To  take  a 
political  analogy,   Mr.   Taft   was   commended  to  the 
West  as  the  inheritor  of  Roosevelt's  policies,  and  to 
the  East  as  a  means  of  escape  from  Roosevelt  himself. 
You  remember  what  came  of  that.     Lowell  cleverly 
expresses  this  thought: 

"This  gives  you  a  safe  pint  to  rest  on 
And  leaves  me  frontin'  North  by  South." 

127 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

Bishop  Greer  of  New  York,  the  largest  and  most 
influential  diocese  in  the  United  States,  thus  expresses 
himself,  "The  great  battles  of  civilization  are  fought 
in  the  cities,  and  New  York  is  a  world  centre  where 
forces  gather  which  tend  to  make  and  mold  the  world. 
We  in  this  city  are  working  out  a  problem  of  civilization 
unprecedented  in  the  history  of  mankind.  The  vital 
element  in  that  problem  is  to  get  the  consciousness  of 
God  into  the  lives  of  the  people,  and  to  that  end  I  am 
willing  to  co-operate  with  Roman  Catholic  priests, 
Presbyterian  missionaries  and  Salvation  Army  lassies. 
So  far  as  I  can  direct  the  policy  of  the  Episcopal  church 
in  the  Diocese  of  New  York  she  will  go  forward  to 
lengthen  her  cords  and  strengthen  her  stakes,  with 
malice  toward  none  and  charity  toward  all." 

-jc  ^  ^  ^ 

In  1869,  Dean  Stanley*  administered  the  com- 
munion in  Henry  VH's  chapel  in  Westminster  Abbey 
to  a  body  of  scholars  and  divines,  including  Scottish 
Presbyterian  ministers  and  English  non-conformists, 
none  of  whom  had  been  confirmed.  Dean  Stanley  was 
severely  criticized  by  certain  extreme  Anglicans  and 
the  incident  was  brought  to  the  attention  of  Dr.  Tait, 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who  fully  upheld  the  action 
of  Dean  Stanley,  saying:  "I  hope  that  we  may  see  in 
this  Holy  Communion  an  omen  of  a  time,  not  far 
distant,  when  our  unhappy  divisions  may  disappear, 
and,  as  we  serve  one  Savior  and  profess  to  believe  in 
one  Gospel,  we  may  all  unite  more  closely  in  the  dis- 
charge of  the  great  duties  which  our  Lord  has  laid  on 
us  of  preparing  the  world  for  His  second  coming." 

*See  paper  on  Charles  Dickens. 

128 


LORD    COLERIDGE 

The  essence,  the  substance,  the  reahty  of  a  religi- 
ous life  is  to  feed  the  hungry,  to  clothe  the  naked,  to 
teach  the  ignorant,  to  watch  by  the  sick,  to  comfort 
the  mourners,  to  pray  to  Almighty  God,  to  live  simply 
and  by  rule,  and,  in  short,  to  use  this  world  as  not 
abusing  it — ^  these  are  things,  happily,  which  both 
Catholics  and  Protestants  think  right;  alike  are  bound 
by  the  precepts  of  their  religion  to  practice,  and  if 
they  do  not  practice  them  themselves,  they  are  at 
least  bound  to  respect  and  reverence  those  who  do. 

Why  should  one  stop  to  ask  what  the  man  Avho  is 
doing  good  work  alongside  of  him  believes,  or  criti- 
cise him  if  he  happens  to  learn  that  he  has  opinions 
different  from  his  own?  It  is  possible,  while  holding 
ardently  to  one's  own  faith,  to  do  justice  to  the  beliefs 
of  others.  As  members  of  one  army,  however  our 
uniforms  may  differ,  let  us  get  close  together.  Let  us 
learn  to  know  and  esteem  each  other  better,  in  order 
that  we  may  pursue  together  the  common  ideal.  This 
is  the  essence  of  morals.  As  Tom  Moore  has  so  well 
put  it  in  his  lines  beginning: — 

"Shall  I  ask  the  brave  soldier  who  fights  by  my  side 
In  the  cause  of  mankind,  if  our  creeds  agree? 

Shall  I  give  up  the  friend  I  have  valued  and  tried. 
If  he  kneel  not  before  the  same  alter  with  me?" 

*      *      *      * 

My  religious  sentiments,  it  is  true,  are  by  no  means 
in  unison  with  those  of  my  many  close  and  warm 
Catholic  friends,  but  what  I  have  said  I  feel  free  to 
say.  It  is  all  very  well  for  every  man  to  go  to  Heaven 
unmolested  and  by  his  own  route,  but  that  is  not  the 
vital  issue,  for  sooner  or  later  the  Christian  forces  of 
the  world  will  be  called  upon   to  stand  together  for 

129 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

their  own  preservation.      They  must  stand  together 
against  agnostic  sociahsm  or  perish  in  detail. 

All  of  this,  I  am  well  aware,  is  a  most  complex 
subject.  But  there  are  other  everyday  subjects  not  less 
so.  Of  liberty,  we  have  been  told  on  the  best  authority^ 
there  are  two  hundred  definitions.  Even  the  con- 
servative name  of  Public  Opinion  has  many  shades. 

*  *     *     * 

It  is  quite  true  that  you  can  go  to  Washington  with 
equal  comfort  and  safety  on  either  the  B.  &  0.  or  the 
P.  R.  R.  I  had  an  old  friend  in  Cincinnati,  the  Rev- 
erend Father  Venniman.  He  called  on  Mr.  Ingalls, 
President  of  the  Big  Four  Railroad,  and  asked  him  for 
a  pass  to  New  York.  Mr.  Ingalls  demurred  saying 
the  clergy  got  half  rates  and  that  ought  to  be  enough 
in  the  way  of  concession. 

"But,"  pleaded  the  priest,  "my  parish  is  a  mighty 

poor  one,  and  is  largely  made  up  of  your  own  employes. " 

"All  right,"  said   Mr.  Ingalls  facetiously,  "Let  us 

make  a  bargain.     I'll  give  you  a  pass  to  New  York  if 

you  give  me  a  pass  to  heaven. " 

"Done,"  said  Father  Venniman,  "but  you  must 
go  by  my  route. " 

And  for  once  the  old  man  took  second  money. 

*  *     *     * 

There  is  no  doubt  about  the  correctness  of  this 
story.  You  can  paste  the  cherry  tree  label  on  it.  I 
have  heard  both  Mr.  Ingalls  and  Father  Venniman 
repeat  it. 


130 


LETTER  X 

LORD    COLERIDGE 

(Continued) 

LORD  COLERIDGE,  on  his  visit  to  Washington, 
sat  with  the  Supreme   Court.     The  records  of 
the  Court  show  that  he  was  the  first  person,* 
not  a  member  of  the  Court,  ever  so  honored. 

On  his  return  to  England  Mr.  Gladstone,  then 
Prime  Minister,  wrote  to  Lord  Coleridge: 

"I  think  you  have  performed  a  public  service 
by  your  excursion  to  America.  I  would  like  to 
see  the  two  countries  married  at  all  points,  and  you 
have  married  them  at  one  important  and  vital 
point,  namely,  in  their  legal  profession.  And  have 
you  done  or  thought  anything,  or  do  you  see  your 
way,  as  to  getting  some  competent  person  to  study 
and  then  write  upon  the  social  state  and  movement 
of  America  which  is  almost  a  sealed  book  to  us, 
while  even  of  its  material  condition  we  are  but 
roughly  and  loosely  informed?" 

It  remained  for  James  Bryce,  long  afterward,  to 
rise  to  this  great  opportunity  in  his  masterly  American 
Commomvealth.  This  work  was  published  years  before 
he  came  to  Washington  as  the  xA.mbassador  of  Great 
Britain,  an  office  he  filled  for  six  years  assiduously, 
loyally,  with  tact  and  with  remarkable  success.  Mr. 
Bryce  probably  knew  this  country  as  no  other  English- 
man—  no  other  Englishman  who  had  not  practically 
spent  his  life  here  — ever  knew  it,  by  observation,  by 
prolonged  t  and  close  study,  and   by  intercourse  with 

*In  later  years  this  compliment  was  extended  to  Baron  Herschell  and  Lord  Reading. 
tMr.  Bryce  made  his  first  visit  to  the  United  States  in  1870. 

131 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

great  numbers  of  leading  men.  His  searching  analysis 
of  things  American  has  extended  over  the  better  part 
of  two  generations,  and  his  studies  have  been  universally 
esteemed  for  their  penetration  and  impartiality.  It 
may  be  fairly  said  that  the  impression  created  by 
James  Bryce  on  the  American  people  will  rank  in 
history  as  second  only  to  that  of  the  revered  Queen 
Victoria,  and  that  it  will  be  an  enduring  bond  between 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States.  When  the 
Queen  died  I  felt  that  a  great  light  had  gone  out. 
She  was,  in  a  sense  that  may  be  felt  and  understood 
but  not  explained,  my  Queen.  Victoria  was  a  Queen  in 
the  highest,  I  might  almost  say,  divinest  sense.  To 
you  she  is  history.  You  and  I  quite  naturally  cannot 
see  the  day,  but  it  will  come,  when  the  English  speaking 
peoples  of  the  world,  and  they  are  rapidly  growing 
and  drawing  more  closely  together,  will  reverentially 
speak  of  Saint  Victoria,  and  not  the  least  devout  of 
them  will  be  the  people  of  these  United  States. 

*  *     *     * 

Mr.  Bryce  is  a  public  speaker  of  an  effective  and 
unusually  interesting  type. 

*  *     *     * 

Anti-English  sentiment  was  largely  fostered — quite 
apart  from  any  Irish  question — by  the  anti-British 
coloring — the  distorted  history  formerly  printed  in 
school-books.  There  has  not  been  a  word  written 
about  the  marvelous  century  of  peace  between  the 
two  nations,  not  one  reference  to  the  historical  fact 
that  along  the  great  4000-mile  boundary  line  that 
separates  Canada  from  the  United  States  there  has 
not  for  a  hundred  years  been  a  single  soldier  doing 

132 


LORD    COLERIDGE 

sentry  duty  on  either  side.  No  doubt  anti-British 
sentiment  was  aggravated  by  the  attitude  of  England, 
correct  as  it  was,  with  one  possible  exception,  during 
the  Civil  War.  Both  North  and  South  at  that  time 
were  eager  to  enlist  on  its  own  side  the  sympathies  of 
Europe,  and  of  England  in  particular.  This  was  at 
first  suggested  by  a  possible  intervention.  Each 
imagined  that  England  would  take  part.  The  North 
relied  on  her  hatred  of  slavery,  the  South  on  her 
hunger  for  cotton,  and  unquestionably  both  the 
government  and  the  people  of  England  were  much 
divided  in  sympathy.  As  time  wore  on  these  hopes, 
or  fears,  were  deferred  until  they  were  no  longer 
seriously  entertained.  Any  English  statesman,  not  a 
madman,  knew  that  the  idea  of  interference  would 
have  been  spurned  at  once,  and  that  even  the  most 
friendlv  and  benevolent  offer  of  mediation  would  have 
been  as  quickly  misrepresented. 

This  anti-English  feeling  was  still  further  accentu- 
ated by  the  Alabama  Claims'  dispute,  following  the 
Civil  War,  and  then  fresh  in  everybody's  mind  and 
frequently  referred  to.  iVs  a  matter  of  fact  the  Ala- 
bama Claims'  dispute  was  not  finally  closed  until  1885. 

Much  of  this  feeling  was  based  on  wrong  infor- 
mation; just  in  the  sense  that  the  people  of  the  South 
at  that  time  totally  misunderstood  the  people  North, 
and  in  this  connection  the  Spanish  War  in  1898  was  a 
blessing  in  disguise,  in  that  it  brought  the  two  sections 
of  the  country  together  and  let  them  meet  each  other 
face  to  face  united  in  a  common  cause,  and  under  one 
flag.  It  was  this  Spanish  War  and  the  Boer  War  fol- 
lowing which  made  the  people  of  the  United  States 

133 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

and  Great  Britain  see  each  other  in  an  entirely  new 
Hght  since  1823  when  they  shook  hands  for  the  first 
time  over  the  Monroe  Doctrine.* 

*  *     *     * 

Prejudice  is  deep-rooted  in  human  nature.  Like 
most  other  elemental  characteristics,  doubtless  it  has 
its  origin  in  the  instinct  of  self-preservation.  In 
primitive  times  the  mere  fact  that  a  stranger  belonged 
to  another  tribe  cast  the  shadow  of  suspicion  on  him, 
because  the  chances  were  that  the  other  tribe  was 
hostile.  Even  after  man  learned  to  live  together  with 
occasional  spasms  of  peace,  the  feeling  of  distrust 
toward  people  of  different  race,  nationality  or  creed 
still  persisted.  Many  are  the  crimes  that  can  be  laid 
at  the  door  of  this  human  failing. 

*  *     *     * 

In  1897  Mr.  John  Hay,  then  United  States  Ambas- 
sador to  the  Court  of  St.  James,  wrote,  in  an  entirely 
confidential  spirit  of  course,  to  Mr.  Theodore  Roose- 
velt, at  that  time  First  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy 
in  the  first  McKinley  administration;  he  said: 

"I  try  to  hold  the  scales  as  level  as  I  can  over 
here,  not  kissing  them  nor  kicking  them.  I  have 
received  a  great  deal  of  kindness  from  all  sorts  of 
people,  and  have  read  a  lot  of  abuse  of  my  country 
from  all  sorts  of  papers.  I  used  rather  to  think  we 
had  a  monopoly  of  abusive  newspapers,  but  I  really 
believe  these  people  are  our  equals  in  vituperation. 

"It  is  a  curious  fact  that  while  no  Englishman, 
not  a  madman,  wants  to  fight  us,  and  no  American, 
not  an  idiot,  wants  to  fight  England,  there  is 
never  a  civil  word  printed  about  England  in 
America,  and  rarely  a  civil  word  about  us  printed 
in  England.  Whether  this  ill-will  is  all  historical, 
or  partly  prophetical,  I  cannot  say. 

♦See  Letter  XXIII. 

ISJf 


LORD    COLERIDGE 

"I  implore  my  friends  at  Washington  not  to  be 
too  nasty  in  their  talk  about  John  Bull;  for  every 
idle  word  of  theirs  I  get  banged  about  the  lot  till 
I  am  all  colors  of  the  rainbow." 

It  was  in  the  early  days  of  the  repubHc  that  exag- 
gerated and  colored  notions  were  allowed  to  falsify 
incident  and  perspective,  and  this  emphasis  was  very 
naturally  supplemented  by  the  attitude  of  a  popula- 
tion whose  fathers  and  grandfathers  had  fought  the 
two  wars  against  England.  In  addition  thereto  the 
difficulties  of  communication  prevented  intercourse 
and  quite  naturally  fostered  prejudice.  Mr.  W.  D. 
Howells,  the  novelist,  the  son  of  English  parents,  tells 
of  the  opprobrium  which  in  his  boyhood  in  the  "forties" 
his  immediate  descent  won  for  him  among  his  com- 
panions. 

No  historic  importance  seems  to  have  been  given 
on  either  side  to  the  sincere  Tory  feeling  in  America 
and  the  sincere  Whig  feeling  in  England.  There  is  no 
excuse  for  either  side,  and  the  mischievous  feature  of 
it  all  has  been  that  even  today  so  many  people  have 
no  idea  that  such  sentiments  ever  existed.  England 
especially  must  reproach  herself  with  a  neglect  of 
American  history  that  leaves  public  school  and  uni- 
versity men  to  this  day  ignorant  of  the  Civil  War,  or 
a  teaching  of  it  that  makes  a  main  cause  of  the  Revo- 
lution the  desire  of  many  colonists  to  repudiate  their 
debts.  In  a  previous  letter  I  have  cited  one  or  two 
conspicuous  illustrations  of  this  neglect,  and  sad  enough 
to  relate,  others  might  be  given.  But  let  us  "gently 
scan  our  brother  man."  Let  us  "bear  and  forbear." 
Today  the  question  is  not  merely  of  the  good  will  of 
two  peoples,  but  of  world  peace  and  the  security  of  our 

135 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 


common    civilization;    not    of    minor    factors    making 
towards  it,  but  of  the  greatest. 

^  SjC  5jC  5jJ  SjS 

Someone   has   remarked   that   for   centuries   history 
has  been  an  uninterrupted  conspiracy  against  truth. 
Rather  is  it  in  some  degree  a  guess  based  on  insufficient 
hearsay.     History  is  material  for  superstition.     It  is 
not  merely  that  history  contains  great  errors  of  fact; 
our  understanding  of  whole  eras  and  the  course  of 
human  events  in  them  is  often  faulty  and  erroneous 
because   of   the   materials   from   which   it   is   formed. 
It  should  not  seem  strange,  therefore,  that  American 
history    has    been    perverted    in    so    many    instances. 
There  are  dozens  of  cases  to  be  found  in  which  the 
writers  of  our  records  have  shown  a  woeful  ignorance 
or  carelessness  in  trying  to  find  out  the  facts.     Biog- 
raphy is  the  essence  of  history,  but  instead  of  weaving 
from    a    thousand    threads,    gathered   from    as    many 
places,  the  fabric  of  our  early  history,  it  would  seem 
that  the  main  stories  have  simply  been  compiled  by 
one   writer  from   the  other  without  any   attempt  to 
verify  facts.    All  good  history  seeks  to  show  not  simply 
the  achievements  of  a  government,  and  of  the  men 
who  were  foremost  in  its  direction,  but  the  habits  and 
the    affairs    of    the    great   body    of   the   people — their 
manners,  their  customs,  their  modes  of  living,   their 
inventions,  their  industries,  their  diversions  and  their 
relation  to  religion,  to  education,  and  social  betterments. 
We  must  know  something  of  the  forces  of  civilization 
which  make  history. 

History   invites   neither  our  praise  nor   our  blame 
but  only  our  understanding.     If  Julius  Caesar  could 

136 


LORD    COLERIDGE 

come  back  to  earth  there  is  probably  nothing  that 
would  astonish  him  more  than  the  repute  these  few 
words  of  Shakespeare  have  fastened  upon  him:  "The 
foremost  man  in  all  this  world!"*  For  it  has  not 
required  any  considerable  part  of  the  research  of  the 
last  two  centuries  to  give  the  conqueror  of  Gaul  his 
true  proportions.  Yet  in  spite  of  the  authentic  proof 
of  Caesar's  shortcomings,  both  in  war  and  statecraft, 
such  is  the  persistence  of  a  legend  once  launched  that 
centuries  cannot  restore  the  true  proportions. 

*     *     *     * 

It  has  been  said  that  in  the  three  hundred  years 
since  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth  Bay 
we  have  developed  a  distinctive  American  mythology. 
Many  of  the  most  picturesque  stories  of  our  early 
annals,  it  is  said,  are  purely  apocryphal,  while  others, 
certain  unbelievers  assert,  are  open  to  general  sus- 
picion. We  would  not,  for  all  the  world,  speak  with 
disrespect  of  the  Mayflower  or  her  precious  human 
freight.  She,  together  with  her  sister  ships  which 
preceded  her  to  Virginia,  gave  to  history  many  honored 
names.  They  founded  America.  They  did  more — ^they 
gave  to  the  United  States  of  today  the  proudest  and 
most  numerous  aristocracy  on  earth. 

When  William  the  Conqueror  landed  on  the  south 
coast  of  England  he  brought  with  him  a  galaxy  of 
Norman  Knighthood,  and  many  of  their  descendants 
may  still  be  found.  But  they  are  at  best  an  insignifi- 
cant company  by  comparison  with  those  of  our  people 
whose  ancestors  sailed  with  the  Mayflower.  William 
probably  crossed  the  Channel  in  a  mere  cockle  shell 
with  half  a  company  of  chivalry. 

*Jiilius  Caesar,  Act.  IV,  Scene  3. 

137 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

The  Mayflower  must  have  been  an  excursion  boat 
of  a  pre-Fulton  Imperator  type.  She  was  clearly  no 
little  ship  such  as  credulous  history  believes  in  but  a 
mammoth  liner.  Of  course,  she  did  make  more  than 
one  trans-atlantic  voyage  carrying  her  human  cargo 
of  the  Fuller-Blooded  of  her  troublous  times.  But 
mathematical  accuracy  compels  the  assertion  that  in 
counting  up  the  number  of  persons  in  these  United 
States  whose  families  came  over  with  the  Mayflower, 
the  good  ship  clearly  had  stateroom  accommodation 
for  5000  souls  on  each  journey,  even  when  allowance 
is  made  for  the  descendants  of  the  crew  and  stewards. 

*  *     *     * 

Two  Harvard  men  were  discussing  the  matter  of 
family  trees  and  one  of  them  said,  "You  know  my 
ancestor  came  over  on  the  Mayflower." 

"Oh,"  remarked  the  other,  "you  haven't  so  very 
much  on  our  people.  My  ancestor  was  right  behind 
him.     He  crossed  on  the  Jimefloiver.'" 

*  *     *     * 

But  we  must  not  dismiss  this  question  of  aristocracy 
as  a  scaffold  jest.  It  would  be  amusing  were  it  not  for 
the  melancholy  obsession  one  sees  in  certain  limited 
sections  of  the  American  mind,  for  the  American 
people  as  a  whole,  true,  or  wise  or  sad  enough  to 
relate,  have  small  regard  for  aristocracy,  and  the  most 
ridiculous  feature  of  it  all  is  the  claim  of  superiority 
we  hear  made,  not  of  course  by,  but  on  behalf  of  the 
descendants  of  colonists  who  settled  one  section  of 
the  country  as  against  another.  It  has  only  been  in 
comparatively  recent  times,  to  be  ^ure,  dating  mainly 
from  the  Civil  War  period,  that  a  Cavalier  presumed 
to    arrogate   a   precedence   over   a   Puritan.      It    was 

138 


LORD    COLERIDGE 

Robert  Toombs,*  of  Georgia,  who  declared  in  1860, 
"We  are  the  Gentry  of  the  Country."  In  this  Mr. 
Toombs  (Bob  Toombs  as  his  admirers  called  him 
when  I  was  a  young  man  in  the  South)  great  and  unre- 
constructed as  he  was  and  remained  until  the  day  of 
his  death,  was  unfair  or  unjust  or  speaking  for  a  politi- 
cal purpose,  or  at  any  rate  quite  incorrect. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  give  a  better  illustration  of 
this  sectional  sentiment  and  at  the  same  time  a  better 
bit  of  unconscious  humor  than  the  following:  There 
was  a  young  fellow  in  a  Mississippi  regiment  during 
the  Civil  War  who  never  failed  somehow  to  get  in  the 
clear  when  a  fight  was  on.  All  the  boys  knew  him 
and  liked  him,  and  knew  he  was  dead  game,  but  he 
had  lost  his  nerve  and  was  proof  alike  against  the  jibes 
of  his  comrades  and  the  threats  of  his  officers.  One 
morning  the  approach  of  the  enemy  was  heralded  by 
a  few  shells  bursting  suggestively  near  the  position  of 
his  company,  and  the  young  man  got  ready  to  retire. 
His  captain  lost  patience  at  last  and  immediately 
ordered  him  in  line  on  pain  of  instant  death. 

"Shoot  away  Captain,"  the  soldier  drawled,  "I  don't 
mind  being  murdered  by  a  high-tone  Southern  Gentle- 
man like  you,  Cappen,  but  damned  if  I'm  guyen  to 
eternally  disgrace  my  family  by  lettin'  one  of  them 
low-hred  Yankees  shoot  me." 

*     *     *     * 

Some  things  are  reasonably  certain  in  this  world, 
the  law  of  gravitation  for  example,  and  another  was 
Mark  Twain's  sense  of  humor.  In  his  personal  rela- 
tions Mark  was  the  most  charming  of  men  and  he 

♦Toombs  was  the  first  Confederate  Secretary  of  State. 

139 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 


laughed  himself  when  he  spoke  of  uncoriscious  humor 
and  he  told  the  foregoing  story  as  an  illustration  of  it. 


* 


The  early  colonists  of  Virginia  and  New  England 
certainly  did  not  themselves  raise  any  such  social 
distinction,  for  we  read*  that  there  was  a  continued 
communication  between  them  and  that  they  married 
and  gave  in  marriage.  They  made  no  pretense  to  caste. 
As  early  as  1634  there  was  an  established  trade,  the 
sunny  South  exchanging  grain  for  the  cod-fish  of  New 
England,  and  the  appearance  in  the  records  of  Virginia 
even  at  that  period  of  such  Puritan  surnames  as 
Cotton,  Eyre,  Hutchinson,  Andrews,  Blackstone,  How, 
and  such  Christian  names  as  Obedience,  Prudence, 
etc.,  positively  supports  this  statement.! 

Nothing  could  have  been  more  natural  than  that 
Massachusetts  should  have  sent  her  sons  to  share  in 
the  rich  untenanted  lands  of  the  South,  spreading  out 
into  warmer  places  than  the  chilly  rocks  where  the 
Puritans  "rescued  the  land  from  the  Devil."  They 
doubtless  had  an  eye  on  its  trade  too,  always  attractive 
to  the  Puritan  element  then  as  now,  and  it  is  certain 
that  some  portions  of  Virginia,  due  to  nearly  three 
centuries  of  isolation,  remain  more  purely  English  in 
origin  and  descent  than  that  of  any  part  of  the  world 
with  the  exception  of  rural  England  itself.  The  guides 
at  the  Revel's  Island  Club  (duck  shooting  and  fishing) 
afford  an  excellent  example  of  this.  There  can  be  no 
mistaking  the  origin  of  such  names  as  Elton,  Bowen, 
Sturgis,  Bloxom,  Parker,  Johnson,  Brooks,  etc.    They 

*The  Early  History  of  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Virginia,  by  I.  C.  Wise. 

fThe  historian  Fiske  just  as  positively  contradicts  it  in  his  American  Revolution,  page  7:  "To 
the  merchant  of  Boston,  the  Virginia  phinter  was  still  almost  a  foreigner,  though  the  one  and 
the  other  were  pure-blooded  Englishmen."  I  stand  by  the  text  nevertheless,  if  for  no  other 
reason  than  the  fact  that  Fiske  modifies,  almost  reverses  his  assertion  later  on,  pages  25  and 
122  same   volume. 

uo 


LORD    COLERIDGE 

are  God-fearing,  clean,  sober  and  sturdy  men  of  unmixed 
blood.  In  their  quarters  before  meals,  one  of  the 
number  invariably  invokes  the  blessing  of  the  Almighty. 
Oddly  enough  in  the  old  Virginia  names  not  a  Mac 
nor  an  Irish  "O"  appears. 

*     *     *     * 

It  is  a  matter  of  fact  that  Englishmen  of  every 
social  order  came  to  Virginia,  including  the  white 
servant,  and  it  is  utterly  absurd  to  suppose,  as  so 
many  appear  to  do,  that  the  early  colonists  of  Virginia 
were  exclusively,  or  even  to  any  great  extent.  Cavaliers 
or  "Gentlemen." 

At  this  period,  or  to  be  exact,  in  1630  the  rank  of 
the  Gentry  was  established  and  it  had  a  meaning  and 
cause  and  a  precise  status  which  was  defined  in  England, 
not  by  a  Ward  McAllister  of  the  day,  but  by  recognized 
authority.  It  would  seem  to  follow%  therefore,  that 
those  of  our  people  who  put  forward  the  claim  to  be 
"gentry"  can  only  be  so  by  descent  and  under  this 
definition  and  no  other,  and  it  is  clearly  stated,  since 
there  has  been  no  subsequent  provision  made  to 
cover  the  formal  and  exclusive  use  of  the  term. 

^  ^  SfC  ^ 

The  Colonists  of  Virginia  and  much  less  the  Caro- 
linas,  never  did  establish  an  aristocracv  of  rank  in 
this  sense,  but  merely  an  imitation  of  such  a  class 
Avhich  was  liable  to  be  and  constantly  was  invaded  by 
any  interloper  that  invested  capital  in  slaves,  and  all 
slave-owners  usurped  the  name  of  "gentleman."  Thus 
an  aristocratic  form,  a  spurious  iinitation  of  what  you 
may  call  if  you  please,  although  I  won't  agree  with 
you,  a  bad  original,  was  imposed  upon  the  infant 
settlements. 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

It  is  only  the  proportion  of  the  Cavaher  element 

which  can  be  questioned,  and  a  genealogical  expert  like 

Bishop  William  Meade*  of  Virginia,  in  The  Old  Churches 

and  Old  Families  of  Virginia,  states  that: 

"There  are  two  hundred  families  in  Massachusetts 
having  as  great  a  claim,  through  traditions  and  the 
use  of  coats-of-arms,  to  the  rank  of  Gentlemen  as 
the  bulk  of  the  patrician  families  of  Virginia.  We 
have  therefore  to  glean,  here  and  there,  little  frag- 
ments of  truth,  to  prevent  our  styling  the  entire 
claim  of  the  Cavaliers  a  bold  fabrication.  A  very 
few  Virginia  families  can  be  thus  proved  to  have 
sprung  from  the  English  Gentry." 

Bishop  Meade  gives  the  following  meagre  list,  and 
any  other  authorities  are  still  wanting.  He  names  the 
families  of  Ambler,  Barradell,  Baylor,  Bushrod,  Bur- 
well,  Carter,  Digges,  Fairfax,  Fowke,  Harrison,  Jac- 
queline, Lee,  Lewis,  Ludwell,  Mason,  Nottingham, 
Robinson,  Sandys,  Spottiswood  and  Washington,  and 
he  goes  on  to  say: 

"I  believe  I  have  omitted  none,  and  I  have  rather 
strained  a  point  in  admitting  some.  I  do  not, 
of  course,  mean  to  deny  that  others  may  exist,  but 
until  the  proofs  are  submitted  to  examination 
there  is  no  justice  in  presuming  them  to  exist." 

*      *      *      * 

Our  civilization  is  predominatingly  commercial  and 
there  are  no  social  traditions  to  maintain,  nevertheless, 
it  is  true  that  in  our  social  evolution  the  middle  class 
do  not  choose  to  stay  middle  class  when  they  climb  to 
wealth.  Take  newer  people  like  the  Astors  or  the 
Vanderbilts,  who  could  not  by  any  stretch  of  imagi- 
nation be  referred  to  as  gentry,  and  lots  of  other  equally 
and  highly  representative  families.  They  have  enjoyed 
wealth  for  several  generations  and  a  person  cannot 

*Bishop  Meade  died  in  Richmond  in  1862.  He  was  the  son  of  Colonel  R.  K.  Meade  who  was  one 
of  General  Washington's  aides.  Our  friend  and  neighbor,  the  Reverend  Robert  E.  Meade,  is  a 
great-grandson  of  the  Bishop. 


LORD    COLERIDGE 

with  impunity  live  in  a  well-equipped  and  splendidly 
conducted  home,  be  surrounded  with  good  paintings 
and  sculpture  and  architecture  and  kindred  refining 
influences.  Something  happens  after  a  time,  no  matter 
how  vulgar  he  may  be,  for  a  family  cannot  be  rich  a 
second  and  third  generation  without  discovering  some 
aesthetic  truths,  but  the  ascendancy,  the  prestige  of 
our  older  people  like  the  Winthrops  of  New  England, 
the  Lawrences  of  New  York  or  the  Lees  of  Virginia, 
is  something  altogether  different.  No  one  heard  these 
names  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  long  defunct 
"400"  of  Ward  McAlhster  and  Mrs.  Astor.  They 
were  apart  from  and  above  it.  We  cannot  compare 
New  York  to  Paris  or  London.  Paris  will  always  be 
Paris,  the  great  garden  in  which  flowers  the  art  of  the 
world,  and  London  will  always  be  the  home  of  our 
soul.  In  this  sense  Paris  is  the  intellectual  capital  of 
civilized  Latin  America.  New  York  can  never  usurp 
the  intellectual  and  spiritual  privileges  of  these  cities. 
So  the  relation  which  the  newer  people  bear  socially 
and  culturally  to  these  older  American  families  has 
not  inaptly  been  compared  to  that  of  our  State  Univer- 
sities to  William  and  Mary,  or  Harvard,  and  as  you 
look  down  the  endless  line  from  the  Astors  and  Vander- 
bilts  to  the  latest  social  aspirant,  the  more  pointed  is 
the  illustration.  Oh!  Vanitas  VanitatumI  Shades  of 
Thackeray ! 

It  was  the  always  brilliant  John  Hay,  and  although 
he  was  pestered  to  distraction  in  London,  his  sense  of 
humor  never  failed  him,  who  remarked  that  so  many 
of  his  countrymen  sought  first  to  get  on,  then  to  get 
honor  and  afterwards  to  get  honest,  and  finally  to  be 
socially  prominent. 

1J^3 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

The  sort  of  snobbishness  Mr.  Hay  had  in  mind  is 
well  illustrated  by  the  remark  of  the  undergraduate 
that  our  fraternity  never  took  in  a  man  unless  his  family 
was  socially  influential  in  his  community. 

It  is  difficult  to  understand  just  what  this  phase  of 
"man's  inhumanity  to  man"*  may  mean  to  people 
who  are  not  above  it  or  indifferent  to  it.  The  view  for 
the  thoughtful  person  is  where  will  it  lead.^  What  of 
the  individual  spirit  ever  struggling  for  greater  freedom 
of  expression.^  Is  it  possible  that  we  shall  be  increas- 
ingly unable  to  be  democratic  in  our  spirit.^  We  must 
not  arrest  thought  and  stunt  the  individual  spirit,  for 
without  the  individual  spirit  there  can  be  no  true 
American  spirit.  We  must  preserve  the  democratic 
principles  without  which  this  nation  cannot  survive. 

*  *     *     * 

Crossing  on  the  Cedric  in  one  of  the  usual  smoking 
room  gab-fests  a  gentleman  remarked  that  his  ancestor 
was  entitled  to  bear  arms  before  the  family  left  England 
over  two  hundred  years  ago. 

"Yes,"  said  one  of  the  party  who  had  been  listening 
in  silence  and  patience,  "and  for  over  two  thousand 
years  my  forbears  in  Scotland  have  been  entitled  to 

hare  legs.'" 

*  *     *     * 

And  errors  in  many  of  our  great  national  pictures 
are  common.  I  do  not  allude  to  errors  in  technique, 
but  in  natural  or  historical  facts.  There  is,  for  example, 
that  historic  anachronism,  "Washington  Crossing  the 
Delaware"  with  the  sun  rising  an  hour  after  midnight 
in  December,  and  the  American  flag,  not  then  in 
existence,  proudly  floating  in  the  breeze. 

*Robert  Burns.     Man  was  made  to  Mourn. 


LORD    COLERIDGE 

In  the  painting  of  the  landing  of  Columbus,  which 
used  to  be  reproduced  on  the  back  of  the  $5  bank  notes, 
the  artist  has  painted  three  flags.  They  are  all  well 
draw^n,  but  one  is  blowing  east,  one  west,  and  one 
south,  which  indicates  a  rather  variable  condition  of 
the  wind  on  that  famous  day. 

In  the  picture  of  the  Surrender  of  Cornwallis,  General 
Washington  is  conspicuous,  seated  upon  a  white  horse. 
But  General  Washington  was  not  present  at  the 
surrender.  Cornwallis  did  not  surrender  his  army 
in  person,  but  sent  a  subordinate  officer  to  do  so. 
Accordingly,  Washington  detailed  an  officer  of  corres- 
ponding rank  to  receive  the  surrender.  It  would  not 
have  been  military  etiquette  for  Washington  to  be 
present. 

Imperfect  as  the  record  of  our  later  history  may  be, 
it  is  even  more  so  in  the  period  from  the  arrival  of 
Columbus  to  the  settlement  of  Jamestown,  a  stretch 
of  nearly  a  century  and  a  quarter.  In  1526  Spain 
began  a  colony  on  the  banks  of  the  James  River,  near 
where  Jamestown  was  founded  eighty  years  later. 
They  built  a  town  and  called  it  San  Miguel,  but  this 
attempt  to  found  a  permanent  settlement  proved 
abortive  as  disease  and  internal  strife  wiped  it  out 
and  the  few  survivors  sailed  away  in  search  of  other 
adventure.  One  event  in  the  history  of  San  Miguel  was 
ominous  of  the  future,  for  the  failure  of  this  colony 
was  mainly  due  to  an  insurrection  of  the  negro  slaves 
the  Spanish  brought  with  them.  Thus  we  see  that 
many  years  before  the  Dutch  deposited  their  first 
unfortunate  cargo  of  negro  slaves  at  Jamestown, 
slavery  had  existed  on  Virginia  soil  and  had  destroyed 

U5 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

the  happiness  of  the  first  white  occupants  of  the  land, 
imperiled  their  safety  and  led  to  the  ultimate  destruc- 
tion of  their  colony.  The  first  Dutch  slave  trader 
came  to  Jamestown  in  1(519  with  twenty  colored 
people  for  sale.  The  settlers  bought  them  and  then 
and  there  commenced  the  trouble  which  was  to  worry 
the  whole  nation  for  nearly  two  centuries  and  a  half, 
and  which  was  to  be  got  rid  of  at  last  at  the  cost  of  a 
million  lives  and  billions  of  treasure.  If  they  had 
ordered  that  Dutchman  to  be  gone  with  his  colored 
captives,  what  a  different  story  the  history  of  our 
country  might  have  been. 

*     *     *     * 

There  are  a  number  of  questions  in  doubt  regarding 
our  flag  which  will  never  be  satisfactorily  settled,  and 
the  three  chief  things  in  doubt  are  when  was  the  first 
American  flag,  as  we  know  it,  unfurled,  who  suggested 
it,  and  who  made  the  first  one  that  was  used.^^ 

I  believe  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  three 
stars  and  the  three  stripes  contained  in  the  Washington 
arms,  still  in  position  over  the  old  doorway  of  Sulgrave 
Manor  House,  in  the  village  of  Sulgrave,  Northamp- 
tonshire, furnished  the  idea  for  the  American  flag. 
Tradition  attributes  the  suggestion  to  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin. The  stars  signify  divine  influence  guiding  the 
bearer  in  the  right  way,  while  the  bars  or  stripes  denote 
one  who  sets  the  bar  of  conscience  and  religion  against 
wicked  temptations  and  evil  desires.  The  colors, 
red  and  white,  seem  to  follow  also;  the  red  meaning 
military  bravery  and  fortitude;  the  white  peace  and 
sincerity. 

lJi6 


LORD    COLERIDGE 

Notwithstanding  the  obscurity  of  its  early  history, 
the  flag  stands  for  more  than  commerce,  more  than 
gain.  It  should  be  a  thing  of  reverence  and  love, 
and  only  used  when  meant  to  elicit  the  purest  of 
patriotic  emotions. 

When  Sousa,  the  famous  band  master,  was  perform- 
ing in  England,  one  of  his  concerts  was  graced  by  the 
presence  of  King  Edward.  Sousa  always  began  his 
concerts  with  "The  Star  Spangled  Banner"  and  the 
King  immediately  stood.  In  a  second  the  audience 
caught  on  and  everybody  was  standing.  At  the  close 
of  the  concert  Sousa  played  "God  Save  the  King"  and 
of  course  everybody  was  standing.  In  this  respect 
the  average  American  audience  should  be  ashamed 
of  itself. 

In  recent  years,  however,  it  is  happily  becoming  a 
custom  for  audiences  and  general  public  gatherings  to 
regard  the  playing  of  the  national  anthem  as  the  signal 
to  rise,  and  stand  uncovered  as  a  patriotic  tribute  to 
the  flag.  No  one  will  deny  the  poetry  and  beauty  of 
the  custom.  It  testifies  outwardly  and  to  the  naked 
eye  of  that  sentiment  of  love  of  country  which  is  the 
very  first  of  a  nation's  assets.  It  is  bad  taste  and  poor 
patriotism  to  use  the  flag  as  a  catchpenny  device. 
It  is  too  often  grossly  misused  by  being  hooked  on  to 
the  attempt  to  annex  the  nimble  dollar,  and  certainly 
every  self-respecting  American  should  resent  its  being 
made  an  adjunct  of  the  dollar  mark. 

*     *     *     * 

Senator  Lodge  in  his  Life  of  Washington,  in  the 
Statesman  Series,  deals  very  franky  and  clearly,  as  you 
will  remember,   with   the  question   of  historical   inac- 

147 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

curacy  and  tells  of  Parson  Weems  and  his  idealized 
biography  of  the  "F'ather  of  His  Country."  It  is 
doubtful  if  any  man  in  our  history  has  been  made  the 
victim  and  the  beneficiary  of  such  a  series  of  grotesque 
fictions.  Parson  Weems  (Mason  Locke  Weems)  was 
a  native  of  \  irginia,  was  educated  in  England  for  the 
Church,  and  in  1784,  there  being  no  Bishop  of  the 
Church  of  England  in  America,  he  applied  unsuccess- 
fully to  various  English  bishops  for  admission  to  holy 
orders.  This  and  similar  cases*  became  an  important 
factor  in  the  establishment  in  the  United  States  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  distinct  in  organization  from  the 
Church  of  England. 

But  great  as  Washington  was,  he  was  not  so  different 
from  other  men  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  an 
ordinary  human  being  to  follow  his  example.  Wash- 
ington loses  nothing  by  the  thought  that  he  was  not 
perfect.  Indeed  he  gains  by  it  as  an  example,  showing 
that  he  had  obstacles  within  as  well  as  without  to 
overcome  before  he  accomplished  what  he  did,  and 
that  he  won  not  so  much  by  genius  as  by  hard  work 
and  determination. 

In  this  country  good  manners  reached  their  culmi- 
nation in  the  time  of  George  Washington,  whose 
stateliness  and  dignity  made  him  easily  the  first 
gentleman  of  his  day.  In  fact,  these  so  far  over- 
shadowed his  other  qualities  that  we  are  only  beginning 
to  get  acquainted  with  his  human  side.  We  know  now 
that  he  had  weaknesses  even  as  ordinary  mortals,  and 
we  have  read  that  his  bill  for  apple  toddy  was  no  small 
one.  Some  people  have  even  hinted  that  he  took  too 
much  at  times;  this,  I,  for  one,  would  not  admit.    But 

*See  Fiske's  Critical  Period  of  American  History,  page  83. 

U8 


LORD    COLERIDGE 

if  he  did  actually  succumb  on  some  rare  occasions,  we 
may  be  sure  he  got  loaded  like  a  gentleman,  and  that 
the  fuller  he  got  the  more  stately  and  dignified  he 
became. 

George  Washington  was  by  descent  an  English 
country  gentleman — he  was  the  great-grandson  of 
that  John  Washington,  who  being  concerned  in  an 
attempt  to  overthrow  Oliver  Cromwell  and  to  restore 
the  old  Stuart  dynasty,  was  obliged  to  flee  across  the 
Atlantic  to  join  other  Royalist  exiles  in  Virginia. 

*  *     *     * 

Take  also  the  case  of  Paul  Jones,  the  sea  fighter. 
It  is  charged  today  that  one  of  the  best-known  his- 
tories of  Jones  is  largely  fiction,  although  it  was  accepted 
for  a  long  time  as  containing  principally  facts.  For 
a  good  deal  of  the  romance  which  has  been  cast  about 
the  life  of  John  Paul  Jones,  the  novelist  Cooper  is 
responsible.  Cooper  was  a  marvelous  romancer,  with 
a  good  story  and  fascinating  characters.  He  wrote 
"The  Pilot,"  which  is  a  great  sea  story,  and  Jones 
was  its  hero.  It  is  perhaps  hard  to  tell,  even  today, 
how  much  is  true  and  how  much  is  fiction  in  Cooper's 
tale,  but  he  helped  in  the  work  of  throwing  mystery 
about  the  life  of  this  fighter  of  the  seas. 

We  do  not  know  definitely  if  John  Paul  Jones 
deserves  all  of  the  credit  which  has  been  given  him  as 
a  war  hero.  The  life  of  the  Scottish-American  sailor 
has  given  rise  to  much  controversy. 

*  *     *     * 

Tucked  away  in  the  annals  of  the  Navy  Department 
at  Washington  is  the  history  of  the  two-and-a-half 
years'  war  the  United  States  waged  against  France 

U9 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 


beginning  in  1798.  More  than  fifty  sea  fights,  some 
of  them  as  desperate  as  the  American  Navy  ever 
fought,  took  place  in  the  course  of  the  hostihties. 
It  was  a  war  worthy  of  much  historical  notice,  yet 
historians  have  neglected  it  as  a  war,  presumably 
because  it  was  "unofficial" — i.  e.,  war  was  not  formally 
declared.  The  Supreme  Court  defined  it  as  a  partial 
war.  This  definition  is  worthy  of  the  Limerick  Assizes. 
As  early  as  1790  French  privateers  began  preying  on 
American  commerce.  Protest  was  made,  but  France 
paid  no  attention  to  the  representations  of  Mr.  Edmund 
Randolph,  then  Secretary  of  State.  American  ships 
were  seized,  crews  imprisoned  and  commerce  destroyed. 
Finally  the  Government  backed  with  force  the  protests 
of  New  England  ship  owners,  and  our  history  carries 
no  more  brilliant  chapter  than  the  narration  of  the 
exploits  which  followed.  In  1801  negotiations  were 
opened  to  end  a  war  which  had  never  officially  begun. 
In  the  meantime  84  French  fighting  ships  had  been 
captured  with  the  loss  of  only  one  American  ship, 
although  our  loss  in  merchant  marine  was  heavy. 
A  number  of  French  battle  flags  now  hang  in  the 
Naval  Museum  at  Annapolis. 

It  was  during  the  controversy  which  preceded  this 
war  with  France  that  the  mythical  phrase  "millions 
for  defense,  but  not  one  cent  for  tribute"  is  supposed 
to  have  been  coined.  The  famous  treaty  made  by 
John  Jay  with  England  threatened  to  involve  the 
United  States  in  war  with  France  and  the  Directory 
would  not  receive  the  American  Ambassador,  Charles 
Cotesworth  Pinckney,  but  intimated  to  him  that  the 
payment  of  a  certain  sum  might  settle  the  dispute. 

150 


LORD    COLERIDGE 

Pinckney  is  supposed  to  have  indignantly  answered 
with  the  now  historic  phrase.  It  is  said,  however, 
that  long  afterward  when  Pinckney  was  asked  in  his 
club  whether  he  had  ever  uttered  it,  he  replied,  "No, 
my  answer  was  not  a  flourish  like  that,  but  simply, 
'Not  a  penny,  not  a  penny.'  " 

*  *     *     * 

And  how  many  of  us  realize  that  the  war  of  1812 
was  brought  about  altogether  by  the  scheming  of  the 
master  mind  of  Napoleon.  It  was  his  policy  to  embroil 
the  United  States  in  war  with  England  in  order  to 
keep  England's  navy  busy.  He  used  the  two  countries 
as  pawns  in  his  game  of  chess — -and  they  fell  for  it. 
This  was  the  most  foolish  war  ever  fought.  On  the 
United  States  side  war  was  declared  by  Congress  by  a 
majority  of  one.  At  a  naval  dinner  given  in  New  York 
shortly  after  the  signing  of  peace  one  of  the  speakers 
referring  to  the  naval  duel  between  H.  M.  S.  Boxer 
and  the  U.  S.  S.  Enterprise  offered  the  toast,  "The 
crew  of  the  Boxer,  enemies  by  law,  but  by  gallantry 

brothers." 

*  *     *     * 

Modern  historians,  notably  John  Fiske,  have  taken 
more  precaution,  but  it  will  be  many  years  before  the 
chronicle  of  our  early  national  life  and  achievements 
will  have  been  authentically  given.  You  cannot 
drink  too  deeply  of  Fiske's  valuable  books.  This  is  a 
good  opportunity  to  say  to  you  re-read  them.  Carlyle 
speaks  of  a  few  books  well  read,  and  Thoreau  somewhere 
said,  "Read  the  best  books  first.  You  may  not  have 
time  to  read  them  all."  It  is  a  temperate  statement 
to  say  that  if  you  will  read  fifty  good  books  and  then 

151 


LETTERS    TO   MY    SON 

read  them  again,  it  will  do  more  for  you  in  the  way  of 
culture  and  character  than  to  read  one  hundred  other 
books  of  equal  value.  The  full  greatness  of  such  books 
as  Fiske's  will  thus  be  better  comprehended.  My 
thought  is  don't  grab  a  quick  lunch  out  of  a  book. 
Take  a  full  meal. 

Never  lose  sight  of  the  obligation  a  good  book  lays 
on  you.  No  matter  how  great  a  book  may  be,  it  can 
only  be  great  to  you  if  there  is  some  answering  great- 
ness in  yourself.  The  eye  may  read  the  written  pages, 
but  the  soul  is  not  spoken  to  by  the  great  and  noble, 
unless  that  soul's  effort  is  day  by  day  toward  greatness 
and  nobleness. 

Read  only  the  best  books,  and  never  read  bad  books. 

Good  books  will  nerve  you  for  the  work — the  serious 

and  earnest  work — which  is  the  lot  of  all  good  and  true 

men;  for,  to  quote  a  great  writer,  Dr.  Young,  not  from 

his  Night  Thoughts,  but  from  his  Satires  a  work  much 

less  known: 

"This  is  a  scene  of  combat,  not  of  rest; 
Man's  is  laborious  happiness  at  best; 
On  this  side, death,  his  labors  never  cease; 
His  joys  are  joys  of  conquest,  not  of  peace." 

*      *      *      * 

It  seems  strange  that  no  one  has  come  forward  with 

a  national  air  all  our  own.    Dr.  Samuel  Smith  of  Boston, 

a  Baptist,  while  still  a  divinity  student  at  Andover, 

wrote  the  words: 

"  My  country  'tis  of  thee, 
Sweet  land  of  liberty,"  etc., 

adapting  them  to  the  air  "God  Save  the  King,"  but 

he  was  possibly  unaware  of  its  origin.     Both  words 

and  music  of  the  latter  were  written  by  Henry  Carey, 

152 


LORD    COLERIDGE 

and  were  first  sung  by  him  in  public  in  1740  at  the 
celebration  of  a  naval  victory  won  by  Admiral  Vernon. 
It  was  in  honor  of  this  great  sailor  that  the  Washington 
home  was  named  Mount  Vernon,  Lawrence  Washing- 
ton, who  built  it,  the  elder  brother  of  George,  having 
served  in  the  British  Navy  under  Vernon.  The  air 
of  the  "Star-Spangled  Banner"  is  an  Irish  melody  set 
by  Tom  Moore  to  the  words  "To  Anacreon  in  Heaven." 

Almost  every  nation  of  Europe  has  original  and 
popular  airs  of  its  own.  Hundreds  could  be  found  in 
Russia,  Spain,  Italy,  Ireland  and  Scotland.  Any  of 
these  could  be  cribbed  and  not  recognized,  and  there 
are  many  that  would  serve  as  a  national  anthem  better 
than  the  one  so  clearly  belonging  by  every  right  to 
the  British  Empire.  Undying  fame  awaits  the  man  or 
woman  who  will  offer  such  an  air.  It  is  many  years 
since  Howard  Saxby  remarked,  "What  an  opportunity 
there  is  for  some  one  to  achieve  everlasting  fame  and 
fortune  by  giving  us  an  original  national  song." 

This  precious  stanza  in  the  British  national  anthem 

has  always  sounded  very  quaint  in  modern  ears: 

"Oh  Lord  our  God,  arise 
Scatter  his  enemies 

And  make  them  fall. 
Confound  their  politics, 
Frustrate  their  knavish  tricks 
On  Thee  our  hopes  we  fix, 

God  save  us  all." 

The  rest  is  respectable  even  if  pretty  stodgy.  Per- 
haps some  grotesquerie  in  the  rhyme  of  "icks"  is 
responsible  for  the  banality  of  the  verse,  but  the  final 
line  is  unquestionably  grand,  in  its  omnibus  appeal: 

"God  save  us  all!" 

153 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

It  has  been  said  that  the  verse  is  crude  and  perhaps 
somewhat  unchristian.  It  has  a  curious  parallel  to 
its  self-conscious  outcry  in  the  very  differently  phrased 
petition  of  the  New  Hampshire  farmer  who  prayed  so 
fervently:  "O  Lord  bless  me  and  my  wife,  my  son  John 
and  his  wife;  us  four  and  no  more." 

The  same  thing  is  true  of  college  songs.  Harvard 
has  taken  Tom  Moore's  ''Believe  Me  If  All  Those 
Endearing  Young  Charms''  and  utilized  it  in  ''Fair 
Harvard.''  West  Point  has  taken  captive  "Irish  Molly 
0"  and  made  her  reappear  in   "Benny  Havens  0."* 

*  *     *     * 

And  oddly  enough  there  is  no  national  holiday  in 
the  United  States.  The  Fourth  of  July,  New  Year's 
Day,  Labor  Day  and  Thanksgiving  Dayf  are  observed 
in  all  the  States,  but  they  are  not  legal  holidays  in  the 
sense  that  any  action  of  the  National  Congress  has  so 
created  them.  These  days  are  observed  as  holidays 
merely  by  common  consent  and  custom. 

In  the  same  way  we  have  no  national  flower.  We 
hear  of  goldenrod  and  the  pansy  but  neither  has  any 
official  sanction.  A  bill  to  name  the  pansy  the  national 
flower  of  the  country  has  been  presented  to  Congress 
but  has  never  received  final  action.  Most  of  the 
States  have  flowers,  chosen  either  by  the  Legislatures 
or  by  vote  of  the  public  school  children  of  the  State. 

*  *     *     * 

Many  of  the  States  of  the  Union  have  adopted 
designations    all    their    own.      Everyone    knows    that 

*Benny   Havens  was  a  bar-tender  in  a  tavern  near  West  Point,  much  frequented  by  cadets  many 
years  ago. 

tThanksgiving  day  was  first  set  apart  by  the  Plymouth  Pilgrims  in  1621  in  acknowledgment  of 
their  first  harvest  in  America. 

154 


LORD    COLERIDGE 

"Hoosier"  means  Indiana,  "Kurnell"  Kentucky,  "Key- 
stone" Pennsylvania,  "Buckeye"  Ohio,  "Cracker" 
Georgia  and  so  on,  but  there  is  no  designation,  either 
in  the  form  of  a  nickname  or  otherwise,  apphcable  to 
a  citizen  of  the  United  States  less  comrehensive  than 
the  term  American.  Yankee  is  very  limited  in  scope. 
American  covers  everything  on  this  Western  Hemi- 
sphere from  the  extreme  North  to  Cape  Horn.  A 
Patagonian,  a  Cuban,  a  Greenlander,  can  each  call 
himself  an  American,  but  neither  can  make  a  specific 
claim  like  Saint  Paul  when  he  said  "I  am  a  Roman."* 
The  citizen  of  the  United  States  can  apply  to  himself 
no  designation  similarly  exact  and  specific.  Here  is 
an  opportunity  for  some  genius  to  coin  a  word.  My 
own  thought  is  that  all  the  other  fellows  ought  to 
change  and  leave  us  in  peaceful  possession  of  America 
and  Americans.  But  if  they  will  not  listen  to  reason 
and  accept  such  a  simple  solution,  and  our  people  must 
still  have  a  distinctive  name  how  would  Usitania  sound 
to  you?  Unfortunately  the  word  contains  two  more 
letters,  but  Usitanians  would  follow  nicely. 

But  be  all  these  things  as  they  may,  I  must  return 
to  my  muttons  and  say  that  I  cannot  feel  in  sympathy 
with  the  modern  scholars  who  are  turning  the  fierce 
searchlights  of  modern  scientific  biography  on  the 
Fathers  of  our  country.  You  read  them  with  a  sense 
of  shock.  We  can  even  part  with  the  snake  of  Eden 
without  a  pang.  We  can  let  the  whale  sink  and  Jonah 
with  him,  but  there  are  two  old  wood-cuts,  one  of  them 
Robinson  Crusoe,  and  the  other  that  little  boy  with  a 
hatchet  in  his  hand  consecrated  in  my  earliest  memory, 
and  while  I  know  the  cherry  tree  story  is  all  bosh,  I 

*Civis  Romanus  sum. 

155 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

somehow  want  to  keep  right  on  in  the  faith,  and  as  I 
write  under  the  shadow  of  a  picture  of  the  Father  of 
his  Country,  I  feel  that  to  doubt  it  is  ahnost  Hke 
challenging  the  validity  of  the  Scriptures. 

Note:  You  may  remark  in  these  letters  the  fre- 
quent use  of  the  word  English  instead  of  the  more 
pedantic  and  less  beautiful  word  British.  Britisher  is 
a  most  objectionable  word,  rarely  used  in  the  United 
States  in  a  cordial  sense.  I  use  the  term  English  as 
Campbell  writes,  ''Ye  Mariners  of  England,''  and 
ardent  Scot  as  he  was,  we  may  be  sure  he  included  the 
sailormen  of  Scotland,  Ireland,  Wales  and  Nova 
Scotia.  Carlyle  uses  England  and  English  and  no  one 
accuses  him  of  being  inaccurate.  In  any  case  I  am 
not  in  bad  company. 


156 


LETTER  XI 

OHIO 

AND  before  we  get  too  far  away  from  the  subject 
of  History  let  us  hope  you  are  famihar  with 
L  the  history  of  Ohio — your  native  State.  It 
has  been  said  that  some  men  are  born  great,  some  have 
greatness  thrust  upon  them,  and  some  are  born  in  Ohio. 
It  is  a  close  second  to  Virginia  as  a  mother  of  Presidents, 
and  oddly  enough,  unlike  most  States  it  has  had  several 
different  capitals  during  its  career.  The  intelligent 
study  of  our  history  is  largely  an  attempt  to  under- 
stand that  peculiar  genius  which  has  characterized 
the  men  who  have  chiefly  contributed  to  our  present 
development.  Without  such  understanding  the  mere 
facts  of  history  mean  little;  we  see  the  events,  but  not 
their  causes  or  their  true  significance. 

*     *     *      * 

In  1786  the  second  Ohio  Company  was  formed 
with  a  view  to  founding  a  new  State  between  Lake 
Erie  and  the  Ohio  River.  It  was  composed  chiefly 
of  New  England  officers  and  soldiers,  was  organized 
in  Boston,  and  Rufus  Putnam  was  its  leader. 

*     *     *     * 

The  famous  Northwest  Ordinance  was  passed  by 
Congress  in  1787.     It  provided  a  temporary  go  vern- 
ier 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

ment  for  the  Territory  with  the  understanding  that 
as  soon  as  the  population  was  sufficient,  the  repre- 
sentative system  should  be  adopted.  The  third  article 
provided  that:  "Religion,  morality  and  knowledge 
being  necessary  to  good  government,  and  the  happi- 
ness of  mankind,  schools  and  the  means  of  education 
shall  forever  be  encouraged." 

*  *     *     * 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  in  this  third  article  Ohio 
set  a  precedent,  for  nothing  is  said  of  education  in 
the  Constitution.  In  fact,  education  as  a  national 
unifying  agency  did  not  lie  within  the  field  of  view  of 
the  framers  of  the  Constitution.  It  has,  therefore, 
remained  for  each  State  to  deal  with  education  as  it 
might  choose  without  suggestion  or  oversight  from 
the  national  government.  Our  State  universities  are 
doing  an  important  work.  Their  dominating  spirit 
is  to  inspire  the  student  to  make  two  blades  of  grass 
grow  where  one  grew  before,  and  it  is  well;  but  what 
of  the  stimulus  to  conceive  an  ideal  of  character  and 
conduct.^  The  college  which  gives  its  students  a  con- 
ception of  a  well-ordered  life,  which  inspires  them  to 
strive  for  self-regulation  and  proper  self-development 
must  thereby  benefit  the  whole  community.  It  is 
more  urgent  that  they  be  successes  as  men  than  as 
engineers  or  lawyers.  If  the  historian  Lecky  is  correct 
in  claiming  that  the  essential  qualities  of  national 
greatness  are  moral,  not  material,  then  moral  training 
must  be  the  most  important  element  in  education. 

*  *     *     * 

It  is  not  less  worthy  of  note  that  it  occurred  to 
Nathan  Dane,  who  drafted  the  ordinance,  which  was 

158 


OHIO 

passed  by  the  Continental  Congress  on  July  13,  1787, 
to  insert  a  clause  by  which  slavery  was  forever  excluded 
from  the  States  north  of  the  Ohio  River.  The  ordinance 
also  included  a  prohibitory  clause  against  all  laws 
impairing  the  obligation  of  contracts,  which  was  made 
a  part  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  a  few 
months  later. 

"We  are  accustomed  to  praise  the  lawgivers  of 
antiquity,"  Daniel  Webster  said.  "We  help  to  per- 
petuate the  name  of  Solon  and  Lycurgus,  but  I  doubt 
whether  one  single  law  of  any  lawgiver,  ancient  or 
modern,  has  produced  effects  of  a  more  distinct  and 
marked  lasting  character  than  the  ordinance  of  1787." 

Mr.  Webster's  reference  of  course  is  to  the  fact 
that  Mr.  Dane  drafted  the  ordinance,  and  that  it  was 
adopted  without  a  single  alteration. 

The  Ohio  Company  founded  Marietta  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Muskingum  River  in  1788,  and  this  is  considered 
the  oldest  permanent  settlement,  and  has  been  referred 
to  as  the  birthplace  of  the  State. 

*     *     *     * 

General  Arthur  St.  Clair,  who  was  the  first  terri- 
torial Governor,  lies  in  an  abandoned  burying  ground 
in  Greensburg,  Westmoreland  County,  Pa.  The  grave 
was  unmarked  until  quite  recently  when  the  masonic 
body  in  the  county  raised  a  monument,  which  bears 
the  following  incription:  "This  monument  was  built 
by  the  Freemasons  of  Westmoreland  County  to  the 
memory  of  General  Arthur  St.  Clair  in  lieu  of  a  better 
one  which  is  due  from  his  adopted  country." 

159 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

Ohio  was  the  pioneer  State  of  the  Old  Northwest 
Territory  and  its  first  capital  was  Chillicothe  which 
is  a  beautiful  and  historic  old  town  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Scioto  River.  It  was  settled  in  1796  by  pioneers 
from  Kentucky  and  Virginia  who  left  their  homes  in 
the  South,  it  is  claimed,  on  account  of  their  convic- 
tions on  the  subject  of  slavery,  and  when  Ohio  came 
into  the  Union  in  1803  this  settlement  was  made  the 
first  Capital  of  the  young  State. 

*  *     *     * 

Ohio,  as  you  know,  was  never  formally  admitted 
to  the  Union,  but  the  organization  of  a  State  Govern- 
ment took  place  with  the  meeting  of  the  first  general 
Assembly  in  Chillicothe.  The  Governor,  Edward 
Tiffin,  an  Englishman  by  birth,  and  State  officers  were 
elected,   and  United  States  Senators  were  appointed. 

The  Senators  were  Thomas  Worthington  and  John 
Smith,  the  latter  a  merchant  in  Cincinnati.  In  the 
employ  of  Smith  at  this  time  was  a  young  man,  a 
native  of  Bucks  County,  Pennsylvania.  This  youth 
was  the  son  of  Scottish  parents,  and  his  name  was 
Charles  McMicken.  He  died  in  1858,  and  bequeathed 
to  the  city  of  Cincinnati  an  endowment  for  the  purpose 
of  higher  education,  and  this  was  the  foundation  of 
the  University  of  Cincinnati. 

*  *     *     * 

McMicken  knew  but  little  of  art  and  had  made  no 
discovery  in  science,  and  yet  he  gave  great  acquisitions 
of  wealth  to  the  advancement  of  knowledge,  and  the 
cultivation  of  liberal  pursuits.  He  was  for  Cincinnati 
what   the   Medici   were   for   Florence;   they   ennobled 

160 


OHIO 

trade  by  making  it  the  ally  of  philosophy,  of  eloquence, 
and  of  taste,  and  wealth  was  made  to  give  a  splendid 
patronage  to  learning. 

*  *     *     * 

Chillicothe  remained  the  Capital  for  seven  years, 
and  when  the  centennial  of  the  State  was  celebrated  in 
1903,  tablets  were  erected  to  mark  the  site  of  the  first 
public  structure  built  of  stone  in  the  Northwest  Terri- 
tory, the  old  State  House,  where  the  original  Consti- 
tution of  Ohio  was  adopted. 

*  *     *     * 

After  a  few  years  there  was  a  movement  to  have 
the  State  Capital  located  further  north,  and  for  a 
brief  time,  Zanesville  (so  named  for  its  founder,  Eben- 
ezer  Zane,)  situated  at  a  point  where  the  Licking  and 
the  Muskingum  Rivers  join,  was  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment. The  Legislature  met  there  for  two  sessions, 
1810  and  1811.  In  the  hope  of  becoming  the  permanent 
Capital,  the  City  of  Zanesville  erected  a  State  House, 
but  was  thrifty  enough  to  arrange  the  building  so  that 
it  could  be  used  as  a  court  house  and  county  head- 
quarters in  case  the  seat  of  government  should  be 
transferred  again.  The  old  brick  building,  which  it 
was  hoped  would  become  the  Ohio  State  House,  was 
used  for  county  purposes  along  into  the  late  seventies. 

*  *     *     * 

About  1810,  Dublin,  Franklin  County,  possibly 
inspired  by  its  name,  became  ambitious  to  become 
the  Capital,  but  did  not  succeed.  Columbus,  about  16 
miles  from  Dublin,  was  chosen  instead  through  the 
enterprising  holders  of  land  who  offered  the  State  the 
site  for  a  capitol,  penitentiary  and  other  public  build- 

161 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 


ings.  An  additional  claim  was  that  it  was  situated 
in  the  geographical  center  of  the  State,  and  around 
the  Capital,  so  located,  has  grown  the  now  prosperous 
and  beautiful  city  of  Columbus. 

It  is  curious  to  note  that  Columbus  gave  the  State 
two  separate  batches  of  land  of  ten  acres  each — one 
lot  for  the  State  House  and  one  lot  for  the  penitentiary 
— the  foresighted  and  impartial  founders  of  the  Capital 
realizing  that  equal  and  immediate  quarters  should 
be  provided  alike  for  the  lawmakers  and  the  law- 
breakers, but  they  little  realized  how  narrow  the 
dividing  line  between  them  was  destined  to  become. 
On  St.  Valentine's  day,  1812,  the  Legislature,  then  at 
Zanesville,  accepted  the  proposition.  On  the  18th  of 
June  following,  the  same  day  Congress  declared  war 
on  Great  Britain,  Columbus,  the  site  of  which  was 
then  an  unbroken  forest,  was  laid  out,  and  the  primeval 
wilderness  and  native  untrodden  soil  awoke  to  its 
initial  real  estate  boom. 


* 


Columbus  was  our  home  for  a  time  a  good  many 
years  ago   and  before  you  checked   in   and  came  to 

board  with  us. 

*     *     *     * 

The  present  Ohio  State  Capitol  was  built  in  1839 
to  replace  the  first  primitive  structure,  and  stands 
upon  the  identical  ten  acres  of  land  given  for  its  site 
by  the  enterprising  citizens  of  Franklin  County  in 
1812.  For  many  years  it  was  called  the  grandest  State 
House  in  the  United  States.  It  is  a  severe,  massive 
pile,  though  neither  magnificent  nor  beautiful.  Within 
its  grounds  there  stands  the  monument  erected  to  the 

162 


OHIO 


famous  Civil  War  heroes  of  Ohio — Grant,  Sherman, 
Sheridan,  Hayes,  Garfield  and  Stanton.  Their  bronze 
statues  surround  the  monument  and  above  them  is  the 
inscription:  "These  are  my  jewels." 


163 


LETTER  XII 

OHIO 

(Continued) 

IN  his  Winning  of  the  West  ex-President  Roosevelt 
touches  only  lightly  on  the  making  of  Ohio  and 
declares  that  the  "Ohioans  adopted  a  very  foolish 
Constitution."  There  are  those  who  think  that  some 
very  foolish  amendments  were  made  to  this  document 
as  a  result  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1912. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  no  change  in  the  mere  mechanism 
of  elections  can  suffice  to  strengthen  the  morale  of  the 
electorate.  Where  the  voters  are  indifferent  and  care- 
less, evil  results  are  inevitable  no  matter  on  what  plan 
elections  are  conducted.  Where  the  voters  are  alive  to 
their  own  interests  and  are  disposed  to  assert  them- 
selves as  conscience  dictates,  the  ballot  under  any 
regulations  is  sure  to  be  an  effective  weapon.  The 
assumption  that  an  impaired  standard  of  civic  respon- 
sibility can  be  remedied  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature 
is  a  fallacy  and  this  Ohio  will  sooner  or  later  discover. 
Responsibility  for  evil  rests  upon  the  voters  and  no 
permanent  improvement  can  come  until  the  great 
mass  of  voters  demand  it. 

Then  again,  the  recall  of  judges  is  demoralizing  to 
competent  public  servants,  because  it  is  trial  by  popular 
clamor  with  the  verdict  found  by  vote  in  a  mass- 
meeting.     Justice  was  never   done   in  that   way  and 

164 


OHIO 

never  can  be  so  done.  Nothing  can  be  more  dangerous 
than  the  movement  to  subject  judges  to  recall  by  a 
popular  vote.  No  graver  subject  has  ever  confronted 
the  American  people.  You  remember  that  a  judge  like 
Jeffreys  could  dispense  injustice  as  the  servile  tool  of 
a  king.  Under  the  recall  with  us  the  king  would  be 
an  excitable  public,  but  the  judges  would  be  rendered 
equally  servile.  The  only  safeguard  to  the  rights  and 
liberties  of  minorities  and  individuals,  of  the  weak, 
and  especially  of  the  unpopular,  would  be  swept  away. 
Senator  Lodge  remarks  that  "the  compulsory  initiative 
and  referendum  is  nothing  in  the  world  but  a  device  to 
permit  interested  and  organized  minorities  to  govern." 

"I*  'T*  I*  n* 

Ohio  is  a  great  industrial  commonwealth,  and  under 
its  amended  Constitution  all  the  relations  between 
employers  and  employees  will  be  supervised  by  a 
commission  of  three  men,  politically  appointed.  These 
men  will  have  the  right  to  order  any  life-protective 
device  they  choose  to  order,  not  merely  for  factories, 
but  for  telegraph  and  telephone  concerns,  hotels, 
apartment  houses  and  stores.  They  will  also  be  vested 
with  the  regulation  of  the  hours  of  labor,  and  their 
orders  will  be  reviewable  only  by  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  State.  That  is,  the  Legislature  strips  itself  of  its 
own  function.  Without  appeal  and  without  amend- 
ment, statutes  for  the  protection  of  "the  lives,  health, 
comfort,  or  general  welfare  of  employees"  may  be  so 
metamporphosed  by  an  administrative  board  as  to 
become  new  and  different  acts,  remote  from  the  inten- 
tion of  the  Legislature.  The  Constitution  is  to  make 
for  certain  purposes  a  little  Legislature  with  the  power 

165 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

to  add  to,  subtract  from  and  miscellaneously  confuse 
and  bedevil  existing  laws  as  to  the  welfare  of  employees. 
That  there  is  real  peril  in  all  such  delegation  of  legis- 
lative powers  is  a  growing  sentiment  among  students 
of  constitutional  law. 

Under  her  new  Constitution  Ohio's  Legislature  may 
fix  a  minimum  wage  in  any  industry  or  in  all  industries. 
This  has  not  been  delegated  to  a  commission.  But 
the  authority  of  the  Labor  Commission  as  it  stands  is 
so  great  that  in  any  State  except  Ohio,  the  nature  of 
politicians  being  well  understood,  there  would  be  grave 
fear  of  such  wholesale  grafting  as  would  compel  a 
change  of  system.  Most  States  cannot  find  angels  for 
membership  on  State  Commissions. 

But  waiving  the  fear  of  corruption,  Ohio's  indus- 
tries face  the  menace  of  ill-considered  interference  at 
every  point.  Can  they  stand  this,  and  keep  their 
place  in  the  competitive  markets  of  the  United  States  .^^ 
If  they  cannot,  the  experiment  in  paternalism  will  result 
only  in  driving  many  of  these  industries  to  other  States. 
This  is  one  country.  Competition  demands  like  wage 
conditions.  And  if  interference  with  hours  and  wages 
destroys  the  value  of  plants  by  compelling  removal  it 
is  entirely  possible  that  the  victims  will  appeal  to  the 
Federal  Courts  to  step  in  and  prevent  the  taking  of 
property  without  due  process  of  law. 

Ohio  has  made  her  bed  and  must  lie  in  it.  Unless 
I  am  mistaken  she  will  be  so  uncomfortable  before  the 
dark  night  of  industrial  unsettlement  is  over  that  other 
commonwealths  will  not  be  anxious  to  follow^  her 
example  in  bed  making. 

166 


OHIO 

Thoughtful  men  are  asking  whether  the  changes  or 
reforms  which  so  many  people  seem  to  consider  neces- 
sary require  the  abandonment  of  blessings  which 
Americans  have  enjoyed  so  long  that  they  have  for- 
gotten, indeed  many  have  never  learned  how  painfully 
the  fathers  secured  them.  The  principles  of  our  Con- 
stitution have  passed  without  question  so  long  that 
many  of  us  have  forgotten  the  reasons  that  underlie 
them.     Now  even  the  principles  are  questioned. 

Headlong  reformers  are  nearly  always  unpractical. 
It  is  never  well  that  the  first  momentary  impulse  of 
the  public  mind  should  become  law.  In  Ohio  instead 
of  going  to  work  quietly  and  gradually  to  remove 
corruption  and  self-seeking  by  the  only  rational  and 
possible  method — the  training  of  an  intelligent  and 
honest  electorate,  they  rush  headlong  to  destroy 
representative  government  by  committing  all  powers, 
without  limit  or  restraint,  to  voters  who  have  shown 
themselves  incompetent  or  unwilling  to  use  properly 
what  they  already  possess.  Self-control  rather  than 
public  control  is  the  power  on  which  we  must  rely  for 
achieving  the  greatest  results;  the  slow  influence  of 
example  rather  than  the  quick  compulsion  of  law,  is 
the  means  by  which  the  real  regeneration  of  society 
is  achieved. 

Not  only  so,  but  it  is  seriously  proposed  that  the 
Legislature  be  abolished  as  useless  and  all  power 
centered  in  the  commission.  The  next  step  will  be 
one-man  rule,  and  to  that  pure  Democracy  always 
has  led  and  probably  always  will  lead.  Representative 
government  with  a  fixed  constitution  is  the  only  form 
under  which  liberty  and  individual  rights  have  ever 

167 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

been  secure,  and  when  it  is  destroyed  they  will  go  with 
it,  and  first  Socialism,  then  despotism  takes  its  place. 

The  Constitution  is  the  permanent  will  of  the  people; 
a  law  is  but  the  temporary  act  of  their  representatives 
who  have  only  such  power  as  the  people  choose  to  give 
them.  When  the  people  of  a  State,  or  the  United 
States,  come  together  and  make  a  constitution  they  are 
doing  the  highest  political  act;  and  they  themselves 
are  the  highest  political  power*  known  to  free  Anglo- 
Saxon  people.  Legislatures  are  but  a  small  represent- 
ative committee  and  are  of  comparatively  recent  origin. 
Almost  down  to  the  Norman  conquest,  the  whole 
body  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  people  made  their  law — the 
Normans  called  it  the  Great  Council  of  the  Realm. 
In  theorj^  every  freeman  was  supposed  to  go  to  these 
councils.  It  is  on  record  that  at  one  of  them  held 
on  Salisbury  Plain,  about  a  hundred  years  before  the 
Conquest,  there  were  sixty  thousand  voters  present. 
This  was  "direct  legislation  by  the  people"  of  which 
we  hear  so  much  today  as  if  it  were  something  new. 
But  for  convenience  they  got  into  the  way  of  choosing 
a  smaller  number  of  men  to  represent  them.  The 
very  fact  of  impracticability  suggested  the  idea  of 
representatives.  This  is  called  the  great  invention 
which  the  English  people  have  given  to  the  world's 
science  of  government.  The  first  Scottish  Parliament 
met  in  the  town  of  Lanark  a.  d.  978. 

Representative  government  is,  therefore,  one  of  the 
achievements  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  peoples,  but  it  is 
threatened  by  the  initative  and  referendum.  They 
substitute  direct  legislation,  a  method  of  government, 
as  we  see,  tried  and  abandoned  centuries  ago. 

*SaIiis  publica  suprema  lex. 

168 


OHIO 

Upon  simple  questions  admitting  of  a  direct  yes 
or  no — such  as  the  assumption  of  a  debt,  or  the  location 
of  a  capital  or  the  prohibition  of  the  sale  of  liquors — 
the  direct  method  of  asking  the  people  themselves  to 
legislate  is  reasonable.  But  when  the  question  is 
not  what  things  shall  be  done,  but  hoic  they  shall  be 
done,  involving  intricate  details  and  the  consideration 
of  many  factors,  the  consultation  of  the  electorate  is 
not  a  reasonble  procedure.  This  thought  also  applies 
to  tariff  legislation.  For  such  deliberations  the  action 
of  a  few  brains  is  better  suited  than  that  of  many. 
Hence  trial  by  jury,  rather  than  by  the  voice  of  the 
populace  which  is  not  always  the  voice  of  God.  When 
the  people  assume  to  legislate  they  dethrone  their 
representative  Legislatures  and  impose  upon  them- 
selves duties  far  more  difficult  than  those  for  which 
they  have  proved  themselves  incompetent.  An  electo- 
rate which  fails  to  choose  fit  representative  legislators 
is  more  unfit  to  legislate  itself.  Liberty  can  not  be 
preserved  by  setting  up  a  power  above  the  Constitution. 
An  unrestrained  popular  mandate  would  be  as  unen- 
durable as  the  reign  of  an  absolute  monarch. 

It  is  the  peculiar  glory  of  Anglo-Saxon  governments 
that  they  start  with  the  inalienable  rights  of  individual 
citizens.  Such  governments  exist  for  the  citizens,  not 
the  citizens  for  the  governments.  Rights  to  life, 
liberty  and  happiness  precede  government  and  are  not 
conferred  by  governments.  Other  governments  regard 
their  subjects  as  existing  for  the  State  and  as  bound  to 
its  service.  Our  government  regards  itself  as  existing 
for  the  people.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  people  living 
under    Anglo-Saxon    forms    of    government    imposed 

169 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

limitations  upon  their  government,  which  hmitations 
some  now  thoughtlessly  seek  to  sweep  away.  Our 
Constitution  imposes  limitations  upon  the  sovereign 
people  because  the  natural  rights  of  individuals  are 
superior  to  the  political  rights  of  government.  The 
Constitution  is  a  declaration  both  as  to  what  govern- 
ment may  and  may  not  do.  It  is  a  declaration  that  no 
official  has  any  power  over  the  individual  except  as  the 
aggregate  of  individuals  have  agreed.  There  is  no 
officer  so  high  that  he  has  any  other  power  over  the 
humblest  citizen  than  he  has  over  the  mightiest  in 
wealth  or  intellect.     Before  the   Constitution  all  are 

equal. 

*  *     *     * 

Liberty  is  the  assurance  that  every  man  shall  be 
protected  in  doing  what  he  believes  his  duty  against 
influence  of  authority  and  majorities  and  customs  and 
opinions.  Individual  liberty  is  the  cornerstone  of  the 
free  state,  and  the  assurances  of  Magna  Charta  were 
given  seven  hundred  years  ago  to  free  men  of  England 
and  their  heirs  forever.  We  are  direct  heirs  of  that 
noble  inheritance  and  the  most  wonderful  thing  about 
it  is  that  it  was  not  a  gift  or  privilege.  That  instru- 
ment which  the  Barons  compelled  King  John  to  sign 
contained  no  rhetoric.  It  did  not  philosophize,  it  was 
a  plain,  practical  assertion  of  common  rights  fitted  to 
the  use  of  the  people  of  that  day. 

*  *     *     * 

The  soul  and  substance  of  our  Constitution  consists 
in  freedom  for  independent  action  of  the  individual, 
freedom  to  do  what  he  wills  with  his  strength,  his 
time,  his  property,  up  to  the  point  where  his  use  of 

170 


OHIO 

such  possessions  become  an  injury  to  other  citizens 
of  their  strength,  their  time,  and  their  property,  and 
with  every  enlargement  of  the  'functions  and  powers 
of  government  we  change  from  freedom  towards  loss 
of  freedom — we  abridge  the  individual  power  of 
independent  action. 

Prof.  Stimson  of  Harvard  University  says,  "It  is 
the  States,  the  people,  that  make  the  Nation,  not  the 
Nation  the  States.  It  is  elementary  that  the  Federal 
Government  had  no  power  to  delegate  anything.  It 
would  be  like  the  creature  endowing  the  creator.  It 
is  the  States — the  people — that  have  created  the 
Federal  Government,  and  the  Federal  Government  is 
there  only  to  obey  their  behest.  A  sovereign  may 
make  a  grant  to  his  people,  but  a  government  of  limited 
powers  may  not  endow  with  any  rights  the  people  of 
whom  it  is  but  the  servant." 

*     *     *     * 

The  notion  of  equality  was,  as  you  know,  very 
strong  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution ;  and  in  an  extreme 
democracy  it  is  apt  to  be  valued  more  than  even  the 
right  to  liberty  itself.  In  other  words,  democracies 
and  legislatures  representing  them  will  sacrifice  indivi- 
dual rights,  and  impose  very  tyrannous  laws  in  the  aim 
of  securing  a  fancied  equality.  It  has  been  suggested 
that  perhaps  we  made  a  great  mistake  more  than  a 
hundred  years  ago,  in  echoing  so  vigorously  the  French 
demand  for  human  rights,  instead  of  the  English 
demand  for  human  duty.  We  have  kept  on  with  it 
ever  since;  there  is  loud  shouting  in  the  highways  and 
byways  about  our  rights.  We  are  bewildered,  and 
between  the  clashing  political  and  social  theories  the 

171 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

average  man  scarcely  knows  how  to  think  and  to  act. 
We  veer  and  shift  too  readily. 

We  are  moving  rapidly  in  these  days  of  newly 
awakened  social  and  political  consciousness,  but  it  is 
wildly  improbable  that  we  will  ever  be  willing  to 
destroy  the  supreme  device  that  has  made  our  govern- 
ment a  system  of  checks  and  balances — viz.  the  three 
independent  and  co-ordinate  departments,  legislative, 
executive  and  juducial — and  leave  ourselves,  as  the 
historian  Macaulay  said,  "all  sail  and  no  anchor." 
The  theory  of  the  separation  of  powers  holds  a  promi- 
nent place  in  English  and  American  political  philosophy. 
That  legislative,  judicial  and  executive  functions  should 
be  carefully  distinguished  and  entrusted  to  agents 
quite  independent  of  each  other  has  been  more  or  less 
the  aim  of  our  constitution-makers,  and  has  been 
generally  approved  by  thinkers  and  writers  upon  our 
political  institutions.  This  idea  is  by  no  means  a  new 
thing.  It  was  perfectly  known  to  the  hard,  practical 
common  sense  of  the  Republic  of  Rome,  and  its  fullest 
exposition  may  be  read  in  the  philosophical  annals  of 
Polybius.  The  Romans  had  a  genius  for  governing 
which  has  probably  never  yet  been  equalled  by  any 

other  people. 

*     *     *     * 

Self-restraint  is  of  the  essence  of  good  government, 
and  lack  of  it  has  overthrown  governments  threatened 
as  now  is  ours.  All  experience  shows  that  if  self- 
restraint  is  to  be  exercised,  it  cannot  be  trusted  to  be 
done  in  the  time  of  temptation.  The  self-restraint  to 
be  effective  must  be  imposed  in  times  of  calmness  and 
enforced  strictly.     The  law  is  more  important   than 

172 


OHIO 

the  official,  and  no  official  is  fit  to  be  entrusted  with 
discretion  above  the  law.  The  people  themselves  are 
not  fit  to  be  entrusted  with  that  uncontrolled  power 
of  which  they  have  wisely  divested  themselves  in  their 
supreme  mandate  as  binding  upon  themselves,  as  upon 
their  officials  and  upon  all  citizens.  The  moment  that 
officials  or  people  are  placed  above  the  law  the  law 
suffers  in  authority,  and  individual  liberty  is  unsafe. 
This  applies  to  the  relations  between  states  and  nations, 
as  well  as  to  the  relation  between  each  citizen  and  all 
citizens  in  the  aggregate,  or  any  or  all  officials.  These 
are  the  questions  which  were  involved  in  our  Civil  War, 
and  which  now  are  pending  in  a  bloodless  but  not  less 
serious  revolution,  proceeding,  all  unobserved,  under 
cover  of  assumption  of  superior  excellence  of  motive 
and  intention. 

The  removal  of  the  Constitutional  check  upon  the 
sovereignty  of  the  majority  is  a  temptation  to  anarchy 
or  despotism.  If  votes  can  overrule  constitutions  and 
laws,  the  essential  principles  of  our  Government  dis- 
appear. When  the  people  judge  and  legislate,  the 
distribution  of  our  Government  into  independent 
departments  vanishes,  and  with  it  a  safeguard  of  liberty. 
There  is  no  possibility  of  making  the  popular  mandate 
available  only  for  good  purposes.  It  must  be  unlimited 
sovereignty  of  the  electorate,  or  it  must  remain  a 
limited  power  of  all  over  the  individual  as  now.  Demo- 
cratic absolutism  is  just  as  repulsive,  just  as  fatal  to 
individualism  as  monarchical  absolutism.  And  yet 
Legislatures  exhaust  their  ingenuity  in  evading  the 
Constitution,  a  sure  proof  that  workers  upon  popular 
appetites   would   imitate   the   Legislature.     We   must 

173 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

adapt  our  institutions  to  alterations  in  conditions,  and 
the  Constitution  itself  provides  the  sufficient  method 
of  adaptation.  When  the  American  people  shall 
adopt  unconstitutional  methods  they  will  have  taken 
the  first  step  away  from  their  traditions  of  safety, 
glory,  and  prosperity  surpassing  all  that  the  world 
has  witnessed  to  this  time. 

*  *     *     * 

But  it  is  not  for  us  to  question  motives,  mistaken  as 
we  believe  some  of  their  manifestations  to  be.  We 
must  recognize  in  it  all  a  desire  for  better  things,  for 
ameliorated  conditions  and  wider  opportunities  for 
all,  for  prompter,  more  impartial  justice,  for  more  joy 
and  beauty  in  life,  and  for  freedom  from  the  distress 
of  poverty  and  want  that  underlies  the  unrest  and 
dissatisfaction  which  have  been,  and  still  are  so  much 
in  evidence. 

If  we  all  do  our  part  we  can  make  the  wilderness 
blossom  like  the  rose,  and  the  barren  places  of  the 
land  white  with  waving  harvests  of  well  being  and 
content.  Let  us  not,  however,  be  deluded  into  think- 
ing as  many  emotional  and  well-meaning  people  are 
trying  to  persuade  us  that  such  changes  can  be  brought 
about  by  legislation  or  demagogic  talk  and  promises. 
They  will  come  with  painstaking  endeavor — endeavor 
on  the  part  of  every  one  to  raise  the  standards  of  his 
own  character,  and  with  the  best  possible  provision 
for  the  nurture  and  instruction  of  the  young. 

*  *     *     * 

The  forefathers  took  infinite  care  to  lay  a  broad 
and  solid  foundation  for  our  national  life  and  conduct. 
They  set  forth  in  remarkably  clear  vision  their  views 
in  that  great  document  called  the  Constitution. 

17Jp 


OHIO 

There  are  probably  thousands,  and  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  citizens  enjoying  the  privilege  of  the  vote, 
who  have  never  read  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  It  is  a  comparatively  brief  document,  simply 
written  and  inclusive  of  all  phases  of  our  national 
life.  These  qualities  should  recommend  its  careful 
perusal  to  every  man.  To  know  its  contents  will 
acquaint  him  with  the  realities  of  our  form  of  govern- 
ment and  lift  his  mind  above  the  petty  squabbles  of 
small  affairs. 

It  shows  in  its  broad  view  of  national  requirements 
that  any  elective  office  is  exalted;  that  public  service 
is  the  highest  type  of  work  to  which  a  man  can  put 
his  mind;  that  an  office  is  not  merely  a  job  with  a  salary 
attached,  but  a  public  trust  with  a  responsibility 
attached. 

Reading  the  Constitution  carefully  we  find  it  full 
of  the  dignity  of  government.  There  is  nothing  in  it 
about  public  office  and  private  benefit.  The  one  thing 
is  the  supremacy  of  government,  clean  of  character, 
efficient  of  purpose. 

It  serves  two  purposes: — 

First :  It  is  a  rule  and  guide  for  the  definite  admin- 
istration of  public  affairs. 

Second:  It  is  equally  a  rule  and  guide  to  the 
humblest  voter  in  inspiring  him  to  keep  clean  and 
adequate  public  service  in  mind  every  time  he  votes. 

For  these  reasons,  if  for  no  other,  every  man  should 
familiarize  himself  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States. 

Since  1804  it  has  remained  unchanged  until  now, 
save  for  the  three  amendments  which  were  the  result 
of  the  mighty  Civil  War. 

175 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

Now,  in  a  time  of  profound  peace,  in  the  midst  of 
national  prosperity,  and  without  anger,  the  Constitu- 
tion has  been  amended  twice;  and  the  result  has  been 
accepted  with  good  temper  and  no  great  dissatisfaction 
by  all  classes  and  all  parties. 

This  would  indicate  that  the  good  sense  and  keen, 
quick,  moral  instincts  of  the  nation  are  alive,  and  that 
our  free,  organic  institutions  still  answer  the  purpose 
of  the  republic. 

But  we  need  more  civic  education,  and  no  time  or 
public  money  will  be  wasted  in  teaching  right  citizen- 
ship, if  the  effort  is  properly  and  persistently  directed. 
Grown-up  people  are  quite  as  much  in  need  of  instruc- 
tion as  are  children,  and  the  more  so  now  that  govern- 
ment is  coming  more  directly  into  the  hands  of  the 
people  than  it  has  ever  been  before. 

Heretofore  the  people's  rights  have  been  limited, 
but  direct  primaries,  the  initiative  and  referendum  in 
many  States,  in  some  States  almost  the  power  of  direct 
legislation,  and  in  some  the  right  to  turn  out  as  well 
as  to  elect  executive  officers,  legislators  and  even  judges, 
all  mean  new  responsibilities  and  privileges  and  neces- 
sitates a  better  acquaintance  with  the  functions  and 
powers  of  government  than  ever  before.  If  people 
are  to  govern  in  this  direct  way  they  must  know  how, 
and  something  in  the  way  of  formal  education  in  their 
responsibilities  should  be  undertaken. 

In  a  word  we  are  being  legislated  to  death.  It 
does  not  seem  to  have  gone  home  to  the  minds  of  our 
lawmakers  that  the  greatest  problems  the  country  has 
to  face  are  problems  of  business  and  not  of  politics. 
There  is  now  an  entirely  new  kind  of  training  demanded 
of  congressmen  and  members  of  legislatures. 

176 


OHIO 

In  the  Continental  Congress  it  was  a  question  of 
government  and  of  political  disputes.  The  early- 
statesmen  of  the  United  States  were  masters  in  state- 
craft. Of  great  business  and  trade  problems  there 
were  none. 

At  the  present  day  laws  governing  our  banks,  our 
railroads,  our  internal  and  international  trade  eclipse 
into  complete  darkness  all  other  laws  that  are  made. 
They  demand  a  new  type  of  statesmanship.  They 
call  for  men  who  have  a  wide  knowledge  of  trade  and 
financial  affairs.  The  unfortunate  thing  is  that  men 
of  this  type  are  usually  slow  to  offer  themselves  for 

public  office. 

*  *     *     * 

And  it  is  well  to  consider  whether  any  man  has  a 
right  to  enjoy  all  the  benefits  of  government  and 
criticise  its  conditions  and  not  contribute  any  of  his 
thought  or  his  time  or  his  example  to  its  maintenance 
in  its  best  form.  The  older  generations  studied  govern- 
ment as  an  art  and  took  a  large  part  in  its  aft'airs,  and 
oddly  enough  they  did  so  without  serious  reflection  on 
their  personality  or  their  professional  calling.  The 
almost  total  neglect  of  this  question  by  most  of  our 
best — our  otherwise  very  best  class  of  citizens  in  this 
generation  cannot  be  regarded  as  other  than  a  dangerous 
and  unfortunate  infirmity  in  our  body  politic.  As  a 
matter   of  fact   many   of   our   best   men   shrink   from 

contamination. 

*  *     *     * 

We  boast  of  a  progressive  country,  but  when  men 
are  satisfied  to  lean  upon  the  Government  instead  of 
supporting  it,  the  nation  is  not  progressing,  but  it  is 
retrogressing.     A  nation  is  no  stronger,  better  or  purer 

177 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

than  its  people.  Governmental  improvement  is  simply 
a  corollary  to  individual  improvement.  It  was  a 
sense  of  personal  responsibility  and  individual  inde- 
pendence that  conceived  governmental  independence 
and  won  it  in  America,  and  it  is  that  spirit  alone  which 
will  preserve  it.  A  policy  of  paternalism  in  govern- 
ment is  not  keeping  faith  with  that  pioneer  spirit.  It 
is  certain  death  to  manhood  and  good  citizenship  to 
lead  men  away  from  personal  responsibility  and  self- 
reliance  into  the  delusion  of  artificial  standards. 

*     *     *     * 

The  idea  that  human  beings  or  human  society  will 
become  perfect  if  we  pass  laws  enough,  is  based  on  a 
wholly  false  philosophy.  The  ultimate  outstanding 
cure  for  social  unrighteousness  is  individual  righteous- 
ness, and  not  the  enactment  of  statutes.  When  people 
get  down  to  calm,  dispassionate  reasoning  they  must 
admit  this  proposition.  Society  is  purified  exactly  in 
the  proportion  in  which  the  individual  is  purified,  and 
the  individual  may  go  on  in  his  impurity  and  continue 
his  ostrich  act  of  trying  to  hide  his  head  under  a 
mountain  of  new  laws  as  long  as  he  pleases,  without 
changing  the  moral  tone  of  society  except  in  accordance 
with  this  principle. 


178 


LETTER  XIII 

OHIO 

(Continued) 

OHIO  has  furnished  six  Presidents  for  the  United 
States,  five  of  whom  had  served  in  the  Civil 
War,  Grant,  Hayes,  Garfield,  Harrison  and 
McKinley,  all  of  whom  I  have  seen  and  known,  except 
Garfield.  Mr.  McKinley  honored  me  with  a  personal 
acquaintance,  and  both  he  and  Mrs.  McKinley  were 
always  most  gracious  to  you  as  a  little  boy,  and  indeed 
to  all  of  us. 

Mr.  McKinley's  brother  Abner,  a  member  of  the 
New  York  Bar,  had  a  summer  home  at  Somerset, 
Pennsylvania,  and  it  seemed  to  be  a  great  relaxation 
to  the  President  to  spend  a  few  days  there,  and  he  did 
so  as  frequently  as  the  cares  and  duties  of  State  would 
admit.  The  first  time  I  saw  him  after  his  inauguration 
was  on  one  of  these  visits.  His  quiet,  simple  bearing 
had  not  changed.  I  met  the  party  at  Cumberland 
and  went  w^ith  them  to  Somerset.  After  a  little  he 
nodded  and  said,  "let  us  go  forward  and  smoke  a  cigar." 
We  had  scarcely  lit  up  when  he  asked,  "When  were 
you  in  Cincinnati.^"  "Oh,  not  since  election  day. 
I  couldn't  vote  in  Maryland,  so  I  went  back  and  voted 
in  Ohio."  Then  he  said,  "When  did  you  see  Tom 
McDougal.?"     I  said  I  had  seen  him  in  New  York 

179 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

shortly  before.  This  enquiry  interested  me.  McDou- 
gal  was  one  of  the  strong  Cincinnati  lawyers  of  that 
day,  and  he  and  the  Major  had  long  been  close  friends. 
When  he  was  involved  financially  some  years  before, 
McDougal  instantly  went  to  the  rescue  putting  his 
entire  resources  at  Mr.  McKinley's  immediate  com- 
mand, as  a  very  close  and  warm  friendship  existed 
between  them.  Others  promptly  came  to  the  front, 
and  I  believe  that  the  late  Mr.  Mark  Hanna  and  Mr. 
P.  C.  Knox  largely  aided  in  tiding  Mr.  McKinley  over 
his  temporary  financial  embarrassment. 

*  *     *     * 

McDougal  was  the  inevitable  Scotchman,  and  the 
box  of  Scotchmen  he  imported  to  Cincinnati  could 
only  be  compared  to  that  of  Irishmen  transplanted  by 
the  late  Mr.  Harry  Oliver  (a  prince  of  men)  to  Pitts- 
burgh. 

McDougal  had  been  a  mechanic  in  his  early  days, 
studied  law  betimes,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was 
probably  the  most  forceful  personality  at  the  Cincin- 
nati Bar.  He  deserved  his  success.  He  crossed  the 
wild  and  raging  Atlantic  Ocean  at  the  risk  of  his  life 
for  the  benefit  of  Cincinnati  in  particular,  and  these 
United  States  in  general.  It  was  said  that  he  declined 
political  preferment  in  any  form  at  Mr.   McKinley's 

hands — for  himself. 

*  *     *     * 

Mr.  Oliver  told  me  an  amusing  story  which  is  well 
worth  repeating.  His  son-in-law,  Mr.  Harry  Rea, 
lived  near  him  in  Sewickley  and  maintained  a  very 
handsome  place.  Mr.  Oliver,  walking  along  past 
another  neighbor's  place  and  seeing  the  gardener  busy 

180 


OHIO 

in  front,  stopped  and  cheerily  greeted  the  man,  and 
approvingly  commented  on  the  nice  appearance  of 
things.  The  gardener,  a  typical  north  country  Irish- 
man, looked  up  and  said  "  Good  morning.  Are  you 
the  mon  that  works  for  Rea.'*" 

He  was. 

*     *     *     * 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  McKinley  enjoyed  their  quiet  visits 
to  Somerset.  He  was  very  fond  of  flowers  and  seemed 
to  derive  endless  pleasure  from  the  garden  attached  to 
his  brother's  place.  He  always  wore  a  pink  or  white 
carnation  and  one  day  he  took  the  flower  from  his 
lapel  and  pinned  it  with  his  own  fingers  on  your  little 
sailor  jacket,  and  that  flower  was  pressed  and  is  still 
preserved  in  one  of  the  old  scrap-books.  Mrs.  McKinley 
spoke  of  her  husband  as  "the  Major,"  and  she  always 
called  you  her  "little  Buckeye  boy." 

*     *     *     * 

Mr.  McKinley  had  an  unusual  capacity  for  com- 
panionship which  conciliated  affection  and  disarmed 
enmity.  He  had  a  marvellous  way  of  dealing  with 
people  and  his  friends  thought  much  of  him.  He  could 
move  among  a  crowd  of  men  and  make  everyone  feel 
well  treated  whether  he  did  anything  for  him  or  not. 
This  is  a  God-given  gift,  yet  many  men  whom  God 
must  have  entirely  overlooked  attempt  to  exercise  it, 
and,  what  is  worse,  believe  they  get  away  with  it. 
The  attempt  is  known  by  many  names.  I  have  known 
many  disastrous  failures.  Mr.  McKinley  never  told  any 
one  that  rain  and  sweat  were  the  same  thing.  Sincerity 
and  steadfastness  were  his  dominant  traits  and  he 
labored  with  a  single  mind  for  the  best  interests  of 

181 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

his  countrymen.  He  successfully  guided  the  country 
through  a  critical  period  in  its  history.  His  being 
cut  off  in  his  prime  and  at  the  height  of  his  usefulness 
was  little  short  of  a  calamity  to  the  American  people, 
and  it  seems  to  me  that  we  have  never  been  in  a  state 
of  mental  balance  since.  We  appeared  to  lose  our 
national  equilibrium  and  we  have  never  recovered  it. 
Up  to  that  period  I  thought  I  understood  the  United 
States,  but  today  one  seems  to  understand  nothing. 

*     *     *     * 

Speaking  of  Buckeye,  how  many  people  know  or 
ever  think  why  Ohio  is  called  the  Buckeye  State,  or 
what  a  buckeye  is  anyhow.^  The  buckeye  is  a  variety 
of  horse  chestnut  tree  which  thrives  in  that  part  of  the 
country  and  the  name  was  applied  to  the  State  soon 
after  it  came  into  the  Union.  The  word  Ohio  is  itself 
translated  from  the  Indian  as  the  "beautiful  river." 
On  the  early  French  maps,  for  the  French  explored 
this  whole  region  long  in  advance  of  the  English,  the 
Ohio  River  is  designated  "La  Belle  Riviere." 

Audubon,  the  American  naturalist,  gives  an  inter- 
esting account  of  his  descent  of  the  Ohio  River  in  the 
autumn  of  1810.  What  he  describes  makes  good 
reading,  as  a  comparison  between  that  which  Audubon 
found  and  the  highly  settled  and  cultivated  state  of 
the  Ohio  valley  today.  He  particularly  refers  to  the 
"clear  stream." 

The  more  practical  and  commonplace  English 
settler  adopted  the  Indian  name  first  for  the  river  and 
then  for  the  State,  as  a  matter  of  convenience.  With 
true  Yankee  propensity  for  nicknames,  however,  they 
seized   upon   the  prevalence   of  the   buckeye   tree   to 

18£ 


OHIO 

designate  their  State  and  took  pride  in  calling  them- 
selves "Buckeye  boys." 

This  was  a  highly  appropriate  selection,  for  the 
buckeye  tree  is  found  largely  in  the  State  and  the 
district  immediately  surrounding  it.  The  wood  is 
soft  fibre,  but  is  difficult  to  burn,  and  it  is  said  in  Ohio 
that  five  sticks  of  any  other  kind  of  timber  are  required 
to  consume  one  of  buckeye.  The  early  settlers  found 
it  extremely  useful,  however,  in  building  their  log 
houses  and  barns  and  fences,  and  through  their  utili- 
zation of  it  for  these  purposes  they  came  to  regard  it 
with  pride  as  the  emblem  of  the  State. 

*  *     *     * 

The  earliest  settlement  of  Cincinnati,  where  you 
first  saw  the  light,  dates  from  December,  1788,  and  in 
1790  General  Arthur  St.  Clair  (before  referred  to,  and 
to  whom  you  are  remotely  related,)  arrived  there  to 
organize  the  county  of  Hamilton.  It  was  the  second 
county  established  in  the  Northwestern  Territory, 
the  first  being  Washington.  The  choice  of  the  name 
of  Hamilton,  that  great  Scottish-American  soldier  and 
statesman,  was  a  happy  and  fitting  one — the  man  upon 
whom  Washington  records  he  could   "always  lean." 

*  *     *     * 

One  of  Cincinnati's  famous  sons  was  Don  Piatt, 
soldier,  lawyer  and  journalist.  In  his  journalistic 
work  he  displayed  a  genius  for  the  invention  of  epithets. 
He  introduced  the  word  "crank"  as  at  present  used, 
and  the  expression  "twisting  the  lion's  tail."*  To 
the  Senate  he  applied  the  phrase  "fog  bank,"  and  to 
the   House   "cave   of   the   winds."     The   Democratic 

•Happily  forgotten. 

183 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

party  he  styled  "the  organized  ignorance  of  the  coun- 
try",* and  the  Repubhcan  "the  organized  greed  of 
the  country."  It  was  Don  Piatt  who  dubbed  Mr. 
Murat  Halstead  the  "Field  Marshall,"  and  General 
Benjamin  F.  Butler  the  "cock-eyed  son  of  Destiny," 
and  he  has  been  given  credit  for  coining  the  phrase, 
also  now  happily  forgotten,  "waving  the  bloody  shirt." 

*     *     *     * 

Another  of  my  Ohio  friends,  who  long  since  filled 
his  mortal  limit,  was  Colonel  S.  K.  Donavin  of  Colum- 
bus, a  veteran  journalist,  lecturer  and  politician.  He 
was  a  forceful  writer  and  a  man  of  fine  literary  taste. 

He  lived  in  Baltimore  before  the  Civil  War  and 
was  on  the  staff  of  the  Baltimore  American,  which  made 
a  brave  fight  against  the  Baltimore  plug-uglies,  the 
red-haired  toughs  who  drugged  Edgar  Allan  Poe  and 
voted  him,  unconscious  as  he  was  of  what  was  going 
on  at  election  place  after  election  place,  and  finally 
left  him  to  die  in  a  cellar.  The  Colonel's  paper  made 
the  gamest  fight  against  odds  that  was  ever  made. 
Again  and  again  Donavin,  then  a  stripling,  was 
assaulted  on  the  streets.  But  the  stripling  made  such  a 
reputation  for  himself  in  these  street  encounters  that 
it  was  a  common  saying  in  Baltimore,  "that  when 
Sim  Donavin  pulled  his  knife  from  his  boot  the  streets 
were  cleared. " 

Representing  the  American  he  was  an  eye-witness 
of  the  stirring  scenes  at  Harper's  Ferry  and  was  present 
when  John  Brown  was  hanged.  His  lecture  on  this 
subject  was  graphic  and  powerful. 

He  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  and 
during  the  latter's  Presidential  compaign  in  1876  was 

*Long  before   this   Benjamin   Disraeli    said,    "A    conservative    government    is    an    organized 
hypocrisy." 

18J^ 


OHIO 

frequently  sent  on  missions  of  the  utmost  importance 
by  Mr.  Tilden  and  his  campaign  managers. 

In  the  rush  and  crush  of  this  busy  world,  when 
sentiment  is  crowded  to  the  rear  by  the  practical 
affairs  of  life,  and  when  the  quick  are  too  much  absorbed 
in  the  struggle  for  wealth  and  fame,  or  too  much 
occupied  with  their  own  joys  and  sorrows  even  to  sigh 
for  the  almost  countless  men  and  women  who  are 
daily  sinking  to  mysterious  repose,  there  are  few  whose 
passing  commands  more  than  momentary  grief.  But 
my  memory  of  Colonel  Donavin  is  a  very  deep  impres- 
sion. 

He  was  a  man  of  brain  and  heart,  and  with  a  mental 
and  moral  equipment  that  entitled  him  to  a  much 
greater  measure  of  what  is  usually  called  success  than 
he  attained.  He  had  deep  convictions  and  was  con- 
scientious in  whatever  he  undertook.  His  writing  was 
in  good  literary  style,  and  was  forceful  and  uncom- 
promising. He  cared  more  for  the  truth  than  he  did 
for  the  material  rewards  of  public  service.  His  per- 
sonal character  commended  him  universally.  He  was 
widely  appreciated  for  his  high  quality  as  a  gentleman, 
as  well  as  the  fact  that  he  was  a  most  interesting  man. 
He  had  a  great  store  of  knowledge  and  a  faculty  of 
communicating  it  to  others,  and  it  must  ever  remain 
a  matter  of  great  regret  that  he  did  not  put  his  papers, 
and  his  many  contributions  in  the  form  of  public 
addresses,  and  newspaper  and  magazine  articles  into 
some  sort  of  permanent  form  during  his  life.  They 
would  have  thrown  many  illuminating  side-lights  on 
the  record  of  a  deeply  interesting  period  of  our  history. 

185 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

Colonel  Donavin  knew  Edgar  Allan  Poe  and  con- 
sidered him  the  most  interesting  figure  in  American 
literature,  and  I  have  never  heard  his  estimate  dis- 
puted. If  there  was  another  just  like  Poe  it  would 
be  difficult  to  place  him.  This  wonderful  man  died 
at  the  age  of  forty,  worn  out,  not  by  his  "dissipations," 
but  by  the  world-friction  for  which  he  was  unprepared. 
But  brief  and  troubled  as  his  life  was,  it  was  not  snuffed 
out  before  he  had  given  us  the  "Raven,"  the  "Bells" 
and  "Annabel  Lee,"  three  remarkable  productions  of 
the  human  mind.  The  popularity  of  the  "Raven"  is 
world-wide  and  justly  so.  The  poet  loses  his  early  love 
Lenore  (innocence)  and  is  visited  by  a  raven  (remorse). 
In  other  words  the  "Raven"  is  the  story  of  the  tragedy 
of  a  soul  seeking  to  allay  its  immortal  thirst  for  truth 
and  beauty,  and  failing  at  last  in  the  shadow  of  dis- 
appointment and  sorrow. 

*     *     *     * 

In  his  Reminiscences  of  the  Civil  War  by  a  Confed- 
erate Staf -Officer,  my  old  friend  Major  A.  R.  H.  Ran- 
son,*  tells  the  story  of  John  Brown's  raid  of  which 
he  was  an  eye-witness,  in  the  most  clear  and  dispas- 
sionate manner,  and  I  am  quite  sure  that  it  would 
have  been  a  great  source  of  gratification  to  Colonel 
Donavin,  had  he  lived,  to  read  a  corroboration  of  his 
views  as  to  the  utter  folly  of  Brown's  attempt,  by  so 
accurate  an  observer  and  so  high  a  military  authority 

as  Major  Ranson. 

*     *     *     * 

One  of  my  old  associates,  Mr.  C.  E.  Ways,t  Assis- 
tant Freight  Traffic  Manager  of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio 

•Major  Ranson  serveil  for  three  years  on  the  staff  of  General  Robert  E.  Lee.  and  was  present 
at  the   surrender   at   Appomattox.     See   Letter  XXIII. 
tObiit  1914. 

186 


OHIO 

R.  R.,  was  telegraph  operator  at  Harper's  Ferry  at 
the  time  of  the  John  Brown  raid  in  1860,  and  in  that 
capacity  sent  the  first  news  of  it  to  Washington  and 
the  rest  of  the  country. 

*     *     *     * 

I  might  go  on  indefinitely  about  old  Ohio  friends, 
but  will  only  name  one  more  of  whom  I  saw  a  great 
deal — General  J.  Warren  Kiefer  of  Springfield,  Ohio, 
a  distinguished  Representative  and  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Representatives.  He  kept  up  the  rather 
unusual  custom,  and  does  to  this  day,  of  wearing  on 
all  occasions,  summer  and  winter,  a  dress  suit,  and  he 
never  condescended  to  an  overcoat,  no  matter  how 
bitter  the  weather.  It  is  recorded  that  Mr.  Gladstone 
cited  in  the  House  of  Commons  one  of  General  Kiefer's 
parliamentary  decisions  and  that  it  was  adopted. 
This  rule  has  since  been  called  by  the  general  name  of 
closure,  which  is  the  right  of  a  Speaker  to  close  debate 
and  cut  off  purposely  obstructive  motions  and  questions 
and  bring  the  house  to  an  immediate  vote  upon  the 
main  question. 

:}:  H<  ^  4: 

I  was  living  in  Cincinnati  during  the  great  floods 
of  1883,  and  also  during  the  Court  House  riots  the 
year  following  in  which  sixty-five  people  were  killed, 
and  I  happened  to  see  all  I  needed  of  both. 


187 


LETTER  XIV 

PROFESSOR    MCGUFFEY 

1HAVE  referred  to  the  distorted  history  with 
which  school  books  were  filled.  An  outstanding 
exception  was  McGuffey's  Fifth  Reader,  a  work 
that  molded  the  minds  of  a  past  generation.  I  speak 
of  it  not  so  much  from  experience  as  from  the  testi- 
mony of  men  who  came  under  its  influence,  for  example, 
men  like  Mr.  John  K.  Cowen*  and  Mr.  F.  D.  Under- 
wood, f  both  of  whom  I  have  heard  speak  of  it  with 
the  deepest  appreciation,  almost  veneration. 

William  Holmes  McGuffey  was  for  many  years  a 
Professor  at  Miami,  and  President  of  the  University 
of  Ohio,  and  was  widely  recognized  as  a  great  teacher 
of  moral  philosophy,  but  he  also  exercised  unmeasur- 
able  influence  in  the  field  of  literature. 

Professor  McGuffey  was  the  author  of  a  series  of 
school  readers  which  attained  immense  popularity, 
and  for  a  long  time  were  almost  universally  used  in  the 
public  schools  of  the  country. 

These  school  readers,  first  published  in  Cincinnati, 
were  largely  instrumental  in  shaping  the  moral  char- 
acter and  the  literary  taste  of  the  youth  of  the  land 
for  two  generations,  and  the  length  of  time  they  resisted 
the    competition    of    new    wares    seductively    offered, 

•See  Letters  XXI  and  XXII. 
tSee  Letters  V  and   XXII. 

188 


PROFESSOR   MCGUFFEY 

testifies  to  their  quality.  Perhaps  Noah  Webster  alone 
of  all  Americans,  surpassed  McGuffey  in  the  extent 
and  permanence  of  good  wrought  by  him  upon  the 
human  race.  McGuffey's  vast  influence  on  the  plastic 
minds  of  those  who  studied  his  readers  can  never  be 
estimated. 

It  is  interesting  and  instructive  to  scan  these  books 
and  to  note  the  kind  of  literature  which  was  put  into 
the  hands  of  children  of  school  age  half  a  century  ago. 
Take  the  Fifth  Reader.  The  selections  are  from  the 
best  writers  of  English.  The  transcendent  influence  of 
McGuffey  is  discovered  in  the  skill  and  taste  with  which 
he  made  choice  of  the  matter  for  his  Fifth  Reader. 

He  struck  the  popular  chord  and  therein  we  may 
measure  accurately  the  feelings  and  sentiments  of  the 
people  of  about  the  middle  of  the  Nineteenth  century. 
The  spirit  of  this  Fifth  Reader  is  the  spirit  of  a  sermon 
setting  out  the  nobler  outlines  of  Puritanical  theology. 

The  selections  are  all  remarkable  for  their  literary 
excellence,  but  they  are  solemn,  almost  oppressively 
solemn,  and  reflect  the  austere  religion  of  the  people. 
The  book  strives  frankly  to  inculcate  the  virtues  of 
self-restraint,  of  heroism,  of  humility,  of  goodness  of 
heart  and  of  reverence  for  God  and  the  Bible.  The 
pupil  is  told  to  combat  selfishness,  arrogance  and  pride. 
Nearly  every  reading  exercise  has  a  moral  explicitly 
stated. 

Good,  no  doubt,  will  come  out  of  the  fierce  light  that 
has  lately  beaten  upon  modern  educational  methods 
and  educational  ideals,  but  with  the  gain  there  may 
have  been  a  loss,  and  there  would  be  a  greater  loss  if 
we  suffer  ourselves  to  be  distracted  from  attention  to 

189 


LETTERS    TO    MY   SON 

those  simple  qualities  out  of  which  the  stuff  of  character 
can  be  woven.  Moral  character  must  be  the  basis 
of  education.  It  is  all  very  well  to  give  the  youth  of 
the  land  good  and  simple  lessons,  but  unless  their  lives 
are  tightened  up  in  other  directions  we  are  apt  to  find 
that  the  present  generation  will  be  less  sturdy  as 
compared  to  the  generation  from  which  they  sprang. 

*     *     * 

Are  we  not  allowing  progress  in  education  to  outrun 
itself.^  Variety  and  flexibility  and  all  that  makes  for 
what  we  call  character  should  not  be  sacrificed  to  a 
demand  for  a  "national"  system  of  education.  No 
education  is  of  true  value  that  does  not  appeal  to  that 
element  in  life  in  which  the  higher  interests  of  the 
intellect  are  supreme.  It  is  written*  that  man  does 
not  live  by  bread  alone. 

There  is  a  mistaken  notion  that  learning  is  wisdom. 
In  reality  common  sense  is  the  highest  wisdom;  and 
yet  it  is  difficult  to  define,  with  anything  like  accuracy, 
the  term  common  sense.  But  the  fact  remains  that 
as  we  look  about  us  in  the  world  we  can  all  recognize 
that  there  is  a  deplorable  lack  of  common  sense  in 
much  of  humanity's  thoughts  and  actions. 

Common  sense  is  to  some  extent  a  gift,  but  it  may 
be  cultivated.  One  needs  to  study  how  to  make  him- 
self adaptable  to  other  people  and  to  all  situations — 
particularly  to  his  own  individual  situation.  It  is 
also  necessary  to  develop  the  sense  of  perception,  and 
to  push  irrational  flapdoodle  into  the  background. 
Common  sense  is  based  on  coolness,  self-control  and 
reason,  but  the  last  is  most  important.     My  whole 

♦Deuteronomy,  VIII:  3. 

190 


PROFESSOR    MCGUFFEY 

point  is  the  apparent  scarcity  of  that  fundamental 
quality  in  these  days.  It  seemed  to  be  developed  and 
grow  naturally  out  of  the  type  of  education  which 
was  standard  in  the  McGuffey  era,  and,  if  it  must  be 
said,  it  is  too  little  found  among  the  gumption -less 
youth  of  today. 

Unquestionably  education  is  far  more  widely  diffused 
now  than  it  was  thirty  or  forty  years  ago;  and  for 
that  reason  boys  ought  to  be  better  educated  now  than 
ever  before.  Probably  in  a  way  they  are,  but  that 
does  not  change  the  fact  that  there  must  be  some 
deficiency  in  a  school  training  which  lessens  the  ability 
as  well  as  the  inclination  of  men  and  women  to  do  their 
work  in  the  world.  Education  is  not  to  be  appraised 
by  quantity;  its  value  depends  on  the  power  it  develops. 
The  only  safe  foundation  for  a  strong  and  prosperous 
national  future  is  the  progressive  education  of  the 
youth  of  the  present. 

To  be  sure  no  reasonable  person  could  expect  our 
high  schools  to  turn  out  boys  who  can  run  a  foundry 
or  a  department  store,  but  even  the  best  friends  of  our 
high  schools  do  censure  their  failure  to  give  pupils  the 
right  attitude  toward  everyday  life.  The  boys  are  not 
dolts.  They  simply  are  not  taught  to  obey  and  to  feel 
responsibility.  They  are  made  flabby  by  too  lax 
discipline  at  school  and  too  much  coddling  at  home. 
Parents  today  admire  their  children  more  than  they 
train  them.  It  is  often  a  sad  sight  in  these  days  to  see 
the  old  folk  struggling  by  means  of  indulgence  and 
admiration  to  keep  the  careless  affection  of  their 
cocksure  and  superior  offspring.  It  may  be  a  sad 
truth,  but  pampering  interferes  with  the  proper 
development  of  character. 

191 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

Our  public  school  system  is  one  of  the  most  vital 
portions  of  our  national  anatomy,  and  the  complaint 
against  it  is  general  and  well  founded  that  as  it  stands 
we  are  failing  to  give  the  pupil  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  absolute  essentials.  Does  it  impress  on  him  that 
the  way  his  brain  is  trained  and  his  character  formed 
while  he  is  at  school  will  influence  all  his  future  success 
and  the  estimation  of  his  fellows?  Does  it  seek  to 
impress  on  him  that  this  is  a  hard,  competitive  world; 
that  everybody,  himself  included,  has  got  some  talent 
that  he  must  find  and  cultivate?  It  fails  altogether, 
and  this  is  even  more  true  of  college  than  school,  to 
teach  him  that  athletic  success  can  never  help  him 
much,  that  the  glory  to  be  derived  from  it  is  largely 
fictitious  and  wholly  transitory. 

*     *     * 

It  is  notorious  that  many  boys  on  leaving  high 
school  can  neither  write  neatly,  speak  or  spell  correctly, 
nor  cipher  accurately;  their  English  is  slipshod  and 
commonplace,  because  they  do  not  know  the  sources 
and  resources  of  their  own  language.  Power  over 
words  cannot  be  had  without  some  knowledge  of  the 
classics  or  much  knowledge  of  the  English  Bible — 
but  both  are  now  quite  out  of  fashion;  they  talk 
abstrusely  and  profusely  about  psychology,  sociology 
and  many  other  ologies,  half  of  which  they  cannot 
spell.  Their  fathers  may  not  have  known  quite  as 
much  about  the  ologies,  but  they  probably  talked 
them  less  and  spelled  them  better. 

*     *     *     * 

The  personal  habits  of  the  rising  generation  are 
none  too  admirable,   and  they  have  little  politeness 

192 


PROFESSOR    MCGUFFEY 

or  respect  for  their  elders.  Usually  the  blame  for  this 
assumed  deterioration  of  the  boy  is  laid  at  the  door 
of  the  school;  it  is  held  that  the  trouble  is  not  so  much 
with  the  boy  himself  as  it  is  with  the  system  under 
which  he  is  educated.  Our  schools  are  also  turning 
out  a  good  many  more  who  have  been  educationally 
demoralized  by  unearned  promotions  to  grades  which 
they  have  not  been,  and  perhaps  could  not  be  prepared 
to  enter.  Whatever  the  reason  may  be,  the  amazing 
displays  of  ignorance  and  illiteracy  given  by  otherwise 
splendid  boys  has  given  rise  to  the  most  savage  arraign- 
ment of  modern  schools. 

I  am  not  bold  enough  to  suggest  a  remedy  for  the 
condition  which  certainly  does  exist,  but  I  do  claim 
that  there  should  be  a  frank  recognition  of  the  fact 
that  the  expectation  of  carrying  every  boy  over  the 
same  broad  and  long  educational  course  at  the  same 
speed  is  unfounded  and  fallacious.  It  cannot  be  done; 
we  may  pretend  to  do  it  and  the  consequences  of 
pretense  are  lamentable  and  scandalous.  The  peril 
lies  in  the  implication  of  intellectual  equality  which 
it  fosters.  Equality  before  the  law  is  a  sound  and 
permanent  democratic  principle.  Equality  of  personal 
capabilities  is  an  absurd  fallacy.  Mythology  tells  us 
of  the  Procrustean  bed,  wherein  men  were  tested  and 
those  whose  feet  protruded  lost  them  by  amputation, 
while  those  whose  feet  failed  to  touch  the  end  of  the 
bed  were  stretched  until  they  did  reach  it.  This  made 
for  uniformity  and  our  modern  educational  system 
does  not  appear  to  have  altogether  survived  it. 

While  teachers  can  keep   their  places   only  when 
they  make  way  for  new  pupils  by  promoting  the  old 

193 


LETTERS    TO    MY   SON 

ones,  whether  they  ought  to  be  promoted  or  not,  the 
talk  about  the  inefficiency  of  our  schools  of  today  will 
continue  and  will  be  justified.  There  can  be  no  attempt 
at  individual  training,  and  the  whole  thing  seems  to 
be  a  system  into  which  round  boys,  square  boys,  and 
triangular  boys,  and  boys  of  no  symmetrical  figure 
must  all  fit  or  be  damned.  Our  public  schools  will 
fail  in  one  of  their  highest  duties  if  they  sacrifice  the 
development  of  ability  to  a  fetich  of  uniformity. 

*  *     *     * 

The  burden  of  the  education  of  the  youth  of  this 
country  is  a  very  heavy  one,  but  it  is  cheerfully  and 
willingly  borne  by  the  people  of  the  United  States  in 
the  hope  and  belief  that  the  result  will  contribute  to 
the  creation  of  a  nation  which  is  homogeneous,  and  it 
must  be  recognized  that  our  common  schools  have 
been  a  great  unifying  force  in  citizenship.  They  have 
opened  the  doors  to  a  vast  army  of  immigrants  and 
introduced  them  to  a  common  language  and  through 
it  to  a  common  citizenship. 

*  *     *     * 

Then  again,  the  members  of  our  school  boards 
are  not  commonly  men  of  much  education,  or  with 
much  interest  in  education,  or  at  least  men  of  these 
qualifications  are  extremely  unlikely  to  be  in  the 
majority.  The  quality  of  the  schooling  is  in  the  hands 
of  the  local  superintendent.  If  he  be  a  man  of  force 
of  character,  he  will  "run  the  board."  If  his  energy 
be  greater  than  his  circumspection,  he  may  run  it 
into  strange  courses.  One  educator  of  this  class  decided 
that  the  three  R's  were  fads.  If  he  prefers  that  his 
pupils  expatiate  and  smatter,  instead  of  concentrating 

IH 


PROFESSOR    MCGUFFEY 

and  learning  something,  expatiate  and  smatter  they 

generally  will.     There  is  the  temptation  upon  him  to 

commend  himself  to  the  members  of  his  own  calling, 

rather  than  to  the  members  of  the  "board,"  or  the 

parents  of  his  pupils,  both  of  which,   too  often,   are 

apt  to  be  ignorant  or  careless  of  what  he  is  doing.     Of 

course,  school  boards  can  secure  any  kind  of  teacher 

they  wish  if  they  demand  the  preparation   and  pay 

the  price. 

*     *     *     * 

Other  educators  have  decided  that  "grammar  is  a 
fetich"  and  that  "out-worn  and  superfluous  forms 
should  be  discarded  in  language."  It  is  well  to  be 
progressive,  but  it  does  seem  that,  if  people  pretend 
to  write  and  talk  English  at  all,  they  ought  to  try  to 
employ  it  in  accordance  with  good  usage.  There  can 
be  such  a  thing  as  eating  grammar  with  your  knife 
at  the  banquet  of  knowledge. 

It  may  be  that  "between  you  and  I"  will  become 
good  usage  sometime,  as  "it  is  me''  has  become  good 
usage  in  French.  But  really,  what  is  the  particular 
difficulty  about  learning  the  difference  between  the 
nominative  and  objective  cases?  It  can  be  mastered 
at  the  age  of  ten  years  with  a  very  moderate  amount 
of  work,  and  it  is  a  handy  thing  to  have  about  you  all 
the  rest  of  your  life.  If  it  isn't  mastered  in  the  so-called 
grammar-school  period,  apparently  it  is  never  mastered 
afterward;  for  there  are  plenty  of  university  men, 
otherwise  well  educated,  who  say  "between  you  and  I" 
and  that  sort  of  thing.  In  the  Duquesne  Club,  for 
instance,  "a  dice"  is  quite  a  common  expression. 

195 


LETTERS    TO    MY   SON 

Correct  pronunciation,  too,  like  most  other  virtues, 
should  begin  at  home.  It  may  be  too  late  to  leave  it 
to  school.  The  average  child  is  much  more  apt  to 
get  his  basic  and  lasting  impressions  from  his  parents 
than  from  his  teachers.  Careless  pronunciation  around 
the  family  table  invariably  has  its  effect  upon  the 
young.  It  is  exceedingly  important,  if  we  are  to  attempt 
to  maintain  anything  like  a  standard  of  English,  that 
the  home  help  the  school  all  it  can  in  giving  the  child 
the  earlier  bent. 

If  careless  habits  of  speech  have  been  formed,  a 
determined  effort  to  correct  them  will  lead  to  good 
results.  By  hearing  the  best  English  in  the  right  sort 
of  home  and  listening  to  it  on  the  lips  of  quiet,  refined 
people,  as  well  as  by  continuous  contact  with  it  in  good 
books,  past  and  present,  one  acquires  an  instinctive 
sense  of  good  usage  which  is  never  failing.  The  usage 
of  educated  persons  is  the  basis  of  good  English.  Amus- 
ing experiences  often  presented  themselves  when  Dor- 
othy and  you  were  little  "tackers,"  in  the  effort  of  a 
teacher  to  convince  you  that  a  pronunciation  learned 
at  home  was  wrong — and  I  can  recall  an  instance 
where  either  Dorothy  or  you  rebeliiously  declined 
to  pronounce  the  word  national  as  if  it  were  spelt 
naytional  because  it  was  not  so  pronounced  at  home. 

On  the  other  hand,  not  infrequently  otherwise  well- 
educated  folk  are  found  holding  to  erroneous  pronun- 
ciation acquired  in  the  home,  which  all  their  later 
schooling  and  knowledge  have  not  supplanted.  The 
original  impression  too  often  amounts  to  a  deep-rooted 
and  permanent  provincialism. 

196 


PROFESSOR   MCGUFFEY 

And  what  about  the  rapidly  dechning  art  of  speUing. 
Every  high  school  teacher  and  college  professor  knows 
that  the  offences  committed  against  correct  spelling  are 
very  often  heinous;  and  the  offenders  are  among  those 
who  have  had  years  of  opportunity  in  our  best  schools. 
It  is  begging  the  question  to  branch  off  into  the  anoma- 
lies of  the  language  and  point  out  the  difficulties  which 
have  to  be  encountered  in  learning  to  spell.  These 
difficulties  always  existed,  and  the  point  is  that  the 
old-timers  spelled  better  than  boys  and  girls  now  do 
with  superior  advantages  of  education. 

Only  in  out-of-the-way  places  and  among  old- 
fashioned  people  do  we  ever  hear  of  the  old  spelling 
bees  such  as  Bret  Harte  commemorated  in  his  account 
of  what  occurred  in  Angels,   where — 

"The  chair  then  gave  out  'parallel'  and  seven  let  it  be. 
Till  Joe  waltzed  in  his  double  T  between  the  '  a  and  e.'  " 

^H      Hs      *      * 

In  class  recitations  the  teacher's  personality  is  of 
greater  worth  than  all  the  knowledge  he  conveys.  If 
he  has  not  personality,  if  he  is  a  "dead  grammatical 
cinder"  as  Carlyle  says,  then  there  is  no  hope  for 
moral  instruction  in  him.  But  outside  of  the  old-time 
recitation  there  might  be  a  province  of  school  work 
devoted  to  association  and  personal  influence  to  which 
the  whole  arena  of  life  should  offer  its  wealth. 

Teaching  morals  is  not  an  intellectual  matter  at  all. 
It  is  a  soul  affair,  where  association,  environment  and 
personality  do  the  work.  A  real  teacher  will  do  more 
good  than  a  library  of  moral  philosophies.  It  is  the 
heart  that  teaches  us  morals  and  not  the  head.  Only 
the    sensibilities,    the    emotions,    the    aspirations,    the 

197 


LETTERS    TO   MY    SON 

intuition  and  the  faith  are  concerned  in  moral  advance- 
ment. All  the  intellect  in  the  world  will  not  advance 
the  moral  situation  a  jot.  The  intellect  deals  almost 
entirely  with  matter,  with  figures,  with  form,  with 
argument,  with  analysis;  but  the  soul  deals  with 
honor,  virtue,  courage,  purity,  sacrifice  and  faith. 
One  deals  with  circumstances;  the  other  with  verities. 
One  is  environment;  the  other  is  the  divine  energy. 

Take  from  the  teacher,  during  certain  school  hours, 
his  routine,  his  grade  sheets,  his  mechanical  reports — 
give  him  the  sway  of  his  personality;  let  him  cultivate 
and  illuminate  that  and  give  him  more  play  in  the  field 
of  his  duty.    It  is  more  important  to  inculcate  honor, 
truthfulness,  courtesy,  decency  and  cleanliness  in  the 
young  mind,  than  to  squander  all  the  time  on  tracing 
the   source   of  Asiatic   rivers   and   conjugating   verbs. 
Better  a  boy  should  know  that  a  table  knife  is  not 
used  by  polite  people  to  eat  pie  than  to  know  all  the 
capitals  of  Europe.    Better  teach  him  that  such  things 
as  keeping  his  nails  clean  are  as  much  a  part  of  a  boy's 
duty  in  the  sight  of  God  as  other  and  more  generally 
recognized  virtues.     The  degree  of  skill  with  which  a 
man  ferries  a  spoonful  of  soup  to  his  mouth,  the  lesser 
degree  of  noise  with  which  he  absorbs  it,  and  to  know 
which  fork  is  designed  to  spear  the  oyster  and  which 
the  fish— all  of  these  things  go  to  make  up  that  intan- 
gible thing  called  "class."     It  is  the  little  things  that 

usually  make  or  mar. 

*     *     *     * 

As  people  grow  older  they  learn  through  experience 
that  manners  have  an  enormous  commercial  value. 
Good   manners  have  been   well   described   as   respect 

198 


PROFESSOR   MCGUFFEY 

for  one's  self.  That  those  who  have  within  them  the 
spirit  of  reverence  and  respect  for  themselves  are 
always  well  mannered  is  perfectly  true.  Politeness  is 
goodness  of  heart,  and,  in  the  lesser  things  of  life,  full 
of  delicate  attention.  In  the  small  matters  of  human 
society  it  sacrifices  self  and  is  an  unostentatious  and 
pleasing  manner.  It  is  a  large  part  of  the  spirit  of 
chivalry  which  inspires  us  to  think  nobler  thoughts, 
and  to  do  brave  and  self-sacrificing  things  in  a  magnani- 
mous and  modest  way. 

*     *     *     * 

But  there  is  another  side.  The  teacher  speaks  of 
the  lack  of  care  and  effort  bestowed  on  lessons  assigned 
in  school  to  be  studied  at  home,  and  points  out  that 
the  school  has  the  boy  only  four  or  five  hours  out  of 
the  twenty-four,  and  that  habits  developed  in  so  short 
a  period  are  lost  unless  the  home  co-operates  with  the 
schools,  and  after  all,  and  in  spite  of  everything,  this 
plea  cannot  be  lightly  dismissed.  It  puts  us  face  to 
face,  however,  with  the  question  whether  the  time 
when  the  home  was  the  center  of  our  life,  industrially, 
educationally,  religiously,  socially,  recreationally,  is 
not  largely  a  thing  of  yesterday  .^^  That  type  of  home 
has  passed,  or  is  fast  passing  away.  The  days  of  the 
patriarchal  family  are  over,  and  possibly  it  is  well 
that  they  are. 

New  knowledge  has  brought  a  like  change  in  all  our 
institutional  life,  and  invention  has  revolutionized 
business.  Efficiency*  has  been  bringing  the  manu- 
facturing end  of  business  up  to  the  mark,  and  the  real 
problem  that  confronts  us  is  to  bring  back  the  old- 
time  efficiencv  of  the  home.    It  is  common  to  hear  men 

*See  Lecture   VI. 

199 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

of  more  mature  years  speak  of  what  their  mothers 
could  do  and  did,  but  they  are  not  so  eloquent  as  to 
their  wives  and  daughters.  Why? 

*     *     *     * 

We  cannot,  of  course,  bring  back  the  old  home,  but 
we  should  at  least  try  to  save  its  spirit.  The  spirit  of 
the  old  home  was  to  have  a  constant  interest  on  the 
part  of  both  father  and  mother,  in  all  that  pertained 
to  the  welfare  of  the  child.  This  may  not  always  have 
expressed  itself  in  the  most  intelligent  way,  judged  by 
modern  standards,  but  it  was  very  genuine,  very 
sincere.  The  need  of  our  American  homes  today  is  to 
reproduce  that  passionate  concern  for  the  upbringing 
of  children.  It  is  the  family  education  that  is  the 
most  vital. 

"Children  should  be  seen  and  not  heard"  may  be, 
happily  perhaps,  a  forgotten  saying  in  many  house- 
holds, but  it  was  better  than  giving  them  an  exalted 
idea  of  their  own  importance,  and  showing  them  off 
and  parading  and  praising  their  mental  accomplish- 
ments and  physical  magnificence.  Some  mothers 
really  injure  their  offspring  more  by  supposed  kindness 
than  they  could  possibly  be  injured  by  the  most 
callous  neglect  of  their  fathers.  The  love  which 
indulges  and  coddles  is  destructive;  the  love  that 
challenges  is  creative.  The  love  of  God  is  virile  as 
well  as  compassionate,  the  very  reverse  of  a  great  deal 
of  human  love  which,  in  its  short-sightedness,  wrecks 
that  which  it  would  save  and  destroys  that  which  it 
would  build  up.  The  question  is  whether  obedience, 
respect  and  humility  are  not  the  most  useful  things  to 
be  first  put  into  a  boy's  head  and  heart.    The  spoiled 

200 


PROFESSOR   MCGUFFEY 

child  used  to  be  pointed  out  as  an  exception.  Is  he 
not  now,  to  state  the  case  frankly,  too  frequently 
the  rule? 

*     *     *     * 

There  is  one  thing  which  the  younger  generation 
might  remember  without  impairing  in  the  least  degree 
its  much  vaunted  independence,  and  that  is  that 
individuality  is  not  necessarily  synonymous  with 
rudeness,  and  lack  of  tact  is  not  the  inevitable  accom- 
paniment of  broad-mindedness.  In  plain  English,  if 
we  were  as  polite  to  our  families  as  we  are  to  the  casual 
strangers  whom  we  meet,  as  careful  not  to  hurt  their 
sensibilities  or  to  jar  their  nerves  or  offend  their  taste, 
as  scrupulously  thoughtful  in  regard  to  the  little 
things  as  we  are  when  we  are  visiting  or  calling,  we 
would  soon  learn  that  the  big  things  take  care  of 
themselves.  If  we  were  kind  as  well  as  being  broad- 
minded  we  would  find  a  way  of  compromise  between 
the  older  and  the  younger  generation.  It  is  always 
well  to  remember  that  it  is  possible  to  be  quite  certain 
about  a  thing,  and  quite  wrong!  Sometimes  an  indi- 
vidual may  be  sure  that  such-and-such  a  thing  is  so, 
when  it  is  not.  More  often,  perhaps,  he  is  quite 
certain  it  is  not  so,  when,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is. 
Those  who  have  had  much  experience  with  the  world 
know  this  attitude  of  dogmatic  denial — of  ignorance 
of  facts  well  enough. 

Some  of  the  dearest  possessions  of  our  lives  are 
linked  with  the  quiet  hours  of  our  childhood,  when 
gathered  around  the  family  hearth  we  were  shut  out 
from  the  world  and  given  the  homely,  domestic  joys 
that  our  fathers  and  mothers  cultivated  so  assiduously. 

201 


LETTERS    TO    MY   SON 

The  training  of  families  properly  is  almost  impossible 

without  "the  quiet  hour."    If  the  after  life  of  children 

is  to  hold  only  memories  of  the  turmoil  and  rush  of 

life  there  will  be  little  strength  and  solidity  of  purpose 

in  those  lives.    Without  the  memory  of  restful  moments 

when    association   was   blessed   by   the   intimate   and 

earnest  fellowship  that  gives  courage  and  hope,  the 

young  people   of  the  present  generation   will   lose   a 

sense  of  power  and  of  confidence  that  brought  their 

forefathers   safely   through   the   trying   problems   and 

difficulties  of  a  life  in  which  men  need  to  think  as  well 

as  act« 

*     *     *     * 

Wherever  the  great  and  beautiful  work  of  art,  a 
home,  has  come  into  being,  the  wife  and  mother  has 
had  her  paramount  existence  in  that  home  though  her 
interests  and  activities  have  not  necessarily  been 
limited  to  its  sphere.  But  father  and  children  have 
been  able  to  count  on  her  in  the  home  as  they  could 
count  on  the  fire  on  the  hearth,  the  cool  shade  of  the 
tree,  the  water  in  the  well. 

Thus  upon  father  and  children  is  bestowed  the 
experience  which  a  great  poet  gained  from  his  mother. 
"All  became  to  her  a  wreath!" — a  wreath  where  every 
day's  toil,  and  holiday's  joy,  hours  of  labor  and  mo- 
ments of  rest,  were  leaf  and  blossom  and  ribbon.  The 
wise  educator  is  never  one  who  is  "educating"  from 
morning  to  night.  She  is  one  who,  unconsciously  to 
the  children,  brings  to  them  the  chief  sustenance  and 
creates  the  supreme  conditions  for  their  growth. 

Primarily  she  is  the  one  who,  through  the  serenity 
and  wisdom  of  her  nature,   is  dew  and  sunshine  to 

W2 


PROFESSOR    MCGUFFEY 

growing  souls.  She  is  one  who  understands  how  to 
demand  in  just  measure,  and  to  give  at  the  right 
moment.  She  is  one  whose  desire  is  law,  whose  smile 
is  reward,  whose  disapproval  is  punishment,  whose 
caress  is  benediction.  In  such  a  presence  you  find 
something  of  the  eternal  light  which  streams  from 
the  throne  of  God.  One  good  mother  is  worth  a 
hundred  schoolmasters.  The  strongest  force  in  the 
world  is  the  mother  love.  It  was  the  primal  mani- 
festation of  God  here  on  earth. 

;>:  :}c  %  :f: 

There  is  certainly  a  queer  lapse  in  our  present  sys- 
tem. The  old-fashioned  housekeeper  who  commanded 
actively  and  saw  that  economies  were  observed  has 
about  vanished  from  the  map.  The  modern  servant 
would  probably  rebel  against  her  meddling  if  she 
should  reappear.     For  better,  for  worse,  she  is  gone. 

But  who  has  taken  her  place .^  Who  brings  intelli- 
gence and  conscience  to  the  handling  of  household 
business  .f^  No  one  thus  far.  The  art  of  housekeeping 
is  practically  in  abeyance. 


203 


LETTER  XV 

CINCINNATI THE    ROBERT    BURNS    CLUB 

IN  those  days  in  Cincinnati  we  had  a  Robert  Burns 
Club,  and  its  annual  celebrations  were  in  a  very  real 
sense  a  feast  of  reason  and  a  flow  of  soul.  Burns 
himself  might  have  enjoyed  them.  There  was  a 
humorous  side  to  it  all  too,  as  there  is  to  most  things. 
In  any  case  this  club  was  one  of  my  hobbies — something 
far  away  from  the  daily  grind.  It  entertained  many 
men  whose  names  will  endure.  I  have  tried  elsewhere 
to  deal  with  Burns  as  a  poet  and  will  here  refer  to  the 
club  gatherings  only.  The  bagpipes  were  always  a 
feature  and  the  subject  of  many  a  joke. 

In  the  old  wicked  days  bands  of  predatory  English 
marched  over  the  border.  They  were  as  bold  and 
sturdy  as  the  Scots  and  far  greater  in  number.  Cluny 
Macwhaupert,  the  Laird  of  Glen-Garragoyle,  in  desperate 
need  of  a  sure  defense,  invented  the  pipes  in  secret 
and  never  let  a  skirl  out  of  them  till  he  faced  the 
invading  Sassenach  on  the  bloody  field.  Then  Cluny 
blew  a  melody  so  fierce,  so  eldritch,  so  grinding  and 
blistering  to  the  soul  that  every  clansman  ripped  and 
slashed  his  way  through  the  English  hordes,  intent 
on  only  one  thing — to  escape  the  fiendish  screeching 
of  the  pipes.  And  that  is  why  every  grateful  Scot  to 
this  day  cherishes  the  bagpipe,  the  preserver  of  Scot- 


CINCINNATI THE    ROBERT    BURNS    CLUB 

tish  independence.     He  has   beaten  his  sword  into  a 
plowshare,   but   he   will   always   uphold   the   pipes   to 

beat  the  band. 

*  *     *     * 

Then  there  was  the  description  of  a  Scotchman's 
heaven.  This  Scotchman  had  been  to  hear  Gilmore's 
famous  band*  but  was  greatly  disappointed  with  the 
music  of  the  great  bandmaster,  and  said:  "Ah,  it  was 
naething;  but  there  is  ae  nicht  I'll  ne'er  forget.  There 
were  19  pipers  besides  myself,  all  in  a  wee  bit  parlor, 
all  playing  different  tunes.     I  just  thocht  I   was  in 

heaven." 

*  *     *     * 

There  was  also  the  canny  Scottish  banker  who 
wouldn't  permit  his  dinner  to  be  cooked  on  Sunday 
but  was  always  ready  to  charge  twelve  per  cent  on 

Monday. 

*  *     *     * 

These  Burns  Club  gatherings  were  the  means  of 
bringing  together  the  best  minds  in  the  community, 
and  to  be  asked  to  speak  at  one  of  them  was  con- 
sidered at  that  day  no  small  compliment.  The 
primitive  act  of  consuming  food,  including  specially 
imported  haggis,  was  only  incidental.  A  Burns  dinner 
meant  something  much  more  than  a  process  of  satisfy- 
ing the  animal  wants;  it  was  a  ceremonial,  a  rite,  an 
act  of  social  consecration. 

Speaking  on  one  of  the  occasions,  I  said  that  for 
three  hundred  and  sixty-four  days  in  the  year  we  are 
hardworking,  law-abiding,  tax-paying.  God-fearing 
American  citizens.  On  the  three  hundred  and  sixty - 
fifth  day  however,  and  this  is  its  anniversary,  we  claim 

•Gilmore  was  the  Dan  Godfrey  of  the  United  States,  and  at  the  same  period. 

205 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

by  right  of  descent,  by  right  of  birth,  by  right  of 
education  and  from  choice  to  be  Scotsmen.  We  are 
found  in  commercial  Hfe  and  in  the  learned  professions. 
We  are  found  in  all  religious  denominations.  We  are 
represented  in  the  roster  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic.  We  are  found  in  both  great  political 
parties;  some  of  us  are  Republicans,  some  Democrats, 
but  there  are  no  Socialists,  no  Anarchists.  You  hear 
of  the  Irish  vote  and  of  the  German  vote,  but  never 
of  the  Scottish  vote — of  Scottish  leadership — yes. 

*     *     *     * 

Those  ineetings  had  an  educative  as  well  as  a  social 
function— they  served  to  keep  alive  a  knowledge  of 
the  wealth  of  poetry  and  song  produced  by  a  host  of 
Scottish  writers,  of  whom  Burns  is  and  probably 
always  will  be  the  chief. 

He  came  when  poets  had  forgot 
How  rich  and  strange  the  human  lot; 
How  warm  the  tints  of  Hfe;  how  hot 

Are  love  and  hate; 
And  what  makes  truth  divine,  and  what 

Makes  manhood  great. 

British  literature  owes  much  to  Robert  Burns. 
After  a  long  captivity  in  those  artificial  forms  of  verse 
which  culminated  in  the  classic  coldness  of  Pope,  the 
lyric  bard  of  Scotland  restored  to  British  poetry  the 
old  Elizabethan  verve  and  fire.  In  his  inspiring  verse, 
hummed  as  he  drove  the  plow  toward  the  gate  of 
sunrise,  or  caught  as  the  lark  sang  wildly  above  him, 
we  return,  as  at  a  leap,  from  the  fetters  of  Art  to  the 
freedom  of  Nature.  His  lines  are  to  be  enjoyed  as  a 
bee  enjoys  flowers,  by  unpremeditated  sipping  of  their 
varied   sweets.     His   songs   were  a   revelation   to  the 

206 


CINCINNATI THE    ROBERT    BURNS    CLUB 

world.  Men  were  swept  back  by  them  to  the  age 
of  Shakespeare,  and  heard  again,  though  in  different 
chords,  the  music  which  had  then  enchanted  mind  and 
soul.  We  escape  from  the  monotony  of  measured 
declamation  to  hear  the  human  voice  throbbing 
with  emotion. 

•f*  1*  *(*  "I* 

At  all  of  these  meetings  a  certain  old  custom,  more 
honored  nowadays  in  the  breach  than  in  the  observance, 
was  never  overlooked — the  custom  of  saying  grace 
before  meat.  It  is  very  right  to  thus  publicly  acknowl- 
edge the  daily  dependence  of  mankind  upon  material 
comforts.  The  custom  is  a  pretty  and  a  proper  one. 
It  is  not  a  matter  of  belonging  to  a  church,  believing 
in  a  creed  or  professing  to  be  pious;  it  is  an  act  of 
decency,  and  of  human  dignity  and  of  that  spiritual 
self-respect  all  souls  ought  to  have,  to  say  grace.  Both 
Gentile  and  Jew  could  say  this  grace  of  Robert  Louis 
Stevenson,  liberal  enough  for  all: 

"Help  us  to  repay  in  service  one  to  another  the  debt 
of  Thine  unmerited  benefits  and  mercies." 

It  is  reverence  for  that  Supreme  Guiding  Spirit 
which  marks  us  from  the  unsouled  animals.  Cecil 
Rhodes  used  to  say  that  a  man  who  did  not  believe  in 
a  Supreme  Being  was  no  better  than  a  dog.  Atheism 
makes  a  curse  a  mere  rattle  of  dry  peas  in  a  fool's 
bladder,  as  it  makes  a  blessing  a  mere  flutter  of  breath. 
Sidney  Smith  once  called  attention  to  the  fact  that 
animals  did  not  enlarge  their  views.  "The  bees  now 
build  exactly  as  they  built  in  the  time  of  Homer;  the 
bear  is  as  ignorant  of  good  manners  as  he  was  two 
thousand  years  past;  and  the  baboon  is  still  as  unable 

201 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

to  read  and  write  as  persons  of  honour  and  quality 
were  in  the  time  of  Queen  Ehzabeth." 

There  are  many  people  who  affect  to  sneer  at  the 
elevating  custom  of  saying  grace,  but  these  are  not  as 
a  rule  people  of  knowledge.  Dignity  is  habitually 
lent  to  the  habit  of  saying  grace  in  the  home  when  a 
minister  of  religion  is  present  by  inviting  him  to  "ask 
a  blessing;"  albeit  in  connection  with  this  highly 
decorous  usage  there  is  a  story  of  a  hungry  general 
who  at  a  formal  dinner  party,  after  casting  his  martial 
gaze  round  and  round  the  groaning  board,  said,  "In 
the  absence  of  any  member  of  the  cloth,  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  I  will  briefly  say  'thank  God.'  "  And 
there  was  also  the  rebellious  httle  boy  who  refused 
at  first  to  say  grace  for  his  dinner,  because  he  did  not 
like  it  as  a  whole,  yet  offered  to  compromise  the 
matter,  and-  "thank  God  for  the  apple  pie." 

*     *     *     * 

A  certain  distinguished  jurist  in  Cincinnati  in  address- 
ing one  of  the  Burns  dinners  began  with  the  words 
"Brither  Scots,"  but  the  typesetter  in  the  following 
morning's  paper  made  him  begin:  "Brither  Sots."  Of 
course,  it  will  have  to  be  owned  that  a  little  drinking 
was  the  fashion  at  the  gatherings.  A  young  doctor 
was  summoned  from  one  of  them  to  the  aid  of  a  well- 
to-do  lady.  When  he  pulled  out  his  watch  and  put 
his  fingers  on  the  patient's  wrist  he  could  not  count 
the  pulse.  "Drunk  again,"  he  muttered.  The  next 
morning  he  was  requested  to  make  an  early  call  to 
see  the  lady,  who  received  him  most  effusively: 
"Doctor,"  she  said,  "you  are  the  first  honest  doctor 
I  have  ever  had;  I  ivas  drunk."   And  ever  after  she  was 

208 


CINCINNATI THE    ROBERT    BURNS    CLUB 

one  of  the  doctor's  staunchest  adherents  and  best 
patients.  ^^     ^     ^     ^ 

It  was  a  practice  of  this  organization  to  invite  any 
distinguished  stranger  who  might  happen  to  be  in 
the  city  on  the  date  of  its  annual  dinner,  and  it  came 
to  pass  that  Mr.  George  Augustus  Sala  the  famous 
journahst  and  war  correspondent  deHvered  in  the 
United  States  a  series  of  lectures,  and  the  date  of  his 
Cincinnati  lecture  was  January  26th,  1884.  The 
25th  {the  day)  being  on  Sunday  the  Burns  Club  dinner 
came  off  the  Monday  following. 

The  pleasant,  unaffected  animation  of  Mr.  Sala's 
manner  was  delightful.  His  first  experience  as  a 
special  correspondent  was  in  the  letters  he  wrote 
from  Russia  after  the  Crimean  War  to  Household 
Wo7'ds,  to  which  his  great  contemporary  Archibald 
Forbes  was  also  a  contributor,  and  of  which  Charles 
Dickens  was  for  many  years  editor.  Mr.  Sala  while 
in  Cincinnati  was  the  guest  of  Mr.  Murat  Halstead. 
They  had  been  associated  as  special  correspondents 
during  the  Civil  War  and  also  during  the  Franco- 
Prussian  War,  and  it  was  in  the  latter  campaign  that 
Halstead  bv  the  boldness  of  his  criticism,  and  the 
freedom  with  which  he  wielded  a  notably  vigorous 
pen  backed  by  an  extensive  vocabulary  gained  for 
himself  the  nickname  of  "The  Field  Marshal."  As 
it  happened  Halstead  had  already  accepted  an  invi- 
tation to  speak  at  the  Burns  dinner,  and  being  hon- 
orary secretary  of  the  club,  I  called  on  him  and  said 
we  would  be  highly  honored  if  his  friend  Sala  would 
join  our  party  after  his  lecture.  Halstead  was  delighted 
with  the  idea  and  said  we  must  get  him  to  make  a 

W9 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

speech,  for  he  was  the  most  charming  and  pohshed  of 
after-dinner  speakers;  he  was  an  after-dinner  "prima 
donna." 

I  accordingly  wrote  Mr.   Sala  a  formal  invitation, 

and  the  following  is  a  copy  of  his  reply  which  luckily 

has  been  preserved: 

Monday,  January  Twenty-Sixth. 
Dear  Sir: 

Your  servant  apparently  did  not  wait  for  an 
answer  to  your  favour  of  this  morning;  since  the 
note  was  only  handed  to  me  at  the  office  of  the 
hotel  at  10  A.  M.  It  will  give  me  the  greatest 
pleasure  after  my  lecture  this  evening  to  attend  the 
celebration  by  the  Caledonian  Club  of  the  Burns 
Anniversary. 

Thanking  you  for  your  courtesy, 
Believe  me  to  be, 

Faithfully  yours, 
William  Gibson,  Esq.        George  Augustus  Sala. 

The  President  of  the  Club  that  year  was  my  friend 
Mr.  Robert  F.  Munro,*  and  he  asked  me  to  introduce 
our  distinguished  guest,  who  in  due  season  appeared, 
escorted  by  the  "Field  Marshal"  and  General  E.  F. 
Noyes,  a  former  Governor  of  Ohio.  He  was  greeted 
with  hearty  applause  and  every  manifestation  of  welcome 
and  good-fellowship.  When  quiet  was  restored  I  rose 
and  spoke  as  follows: 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen: 

I  beg  the  indulgence  of  this  company  while  I  infringe 
on  the  regular  programme  by  the  interpolation  of  a 
toast  which,  if  its  necessity  could  have  been  foreseen, 
would  certainly  have  occupied  an  honored  place  on 
the  list.  I  speak  of  the  toast  of  "Our  Guests"  of  this 
evening. 

Our  meetings,  though  mostly  composed  of  Scots- 
men,  are  not   by  any   means  exclusively  confined  to 

•Now  President  of  the  American  Cotton  Oil  Company,  27  Beaver  Street,  New  York. 

210 


-MU.    K.    F.   MINRO 


CINCINNATI THE    ROBERT    BURNS    CLUB 

that  nationality,  and  we  welcome  all  present  who 
possess  the  great  passport  of  admission  to  such  a 
meeting — a  mutual  appreciation  of  the  works  and 
worth  of  Robert  Burns. 

I  have  the  honor  to  attach  the  name  of  a  gentleman 
to  this  toast  who  has  by  his  achievements  in  literature 
and  journalism,  attained  to  a  position  of  prominence 
in  the  world,  and  who  is  now  a  sojourner  in  our  midst. 

He  has  made  unto  himself  a  name  by  his  journal- 
istic contributions,  his  book  publications,  by  his 
eminence  in  literature  and  by  his  talent  and  daring 
as  a  special  correspondent — a  new  field  which  the  daily 
newspapers  and  the  electric  telegraph  developed  for 
men  of  courage,  talent  and  spirit.  His  "Echoes  of  the 
Week,"  in  the  Illustrated  London  Neivs  we  have  read 
for  years  with  infinite  profit  and  pleasure,  and  I  am 
gratified  to  have  this  opportunity  to  introduce  to  you 
in  person  a  gentleman  who  has  contributed  so  much 
to  contemporary  thought. 

Gentlemen,  I  allude  to  our  honored  guest,  Mr. 
George  Augustus  Sala. 

*     *     *     * 

Mr.  Halstead  was  right.  The  response  was  a  model 
of  its  kind  and  for  that  reason  it  is  a  great  pity  we  did 
not  have  it  reported.  Sala  expressed  his  delight  at 
being  honored  by  an  invitation  to  a  Scottish  gathering. 
He  felt  bound  to  accept  it  as  an  humble  representative 
of  the  adjacent  peninsula  of  England  which  is  annexed 
to  Scotland.  The  conquest  of  England  begun  by 
Robert  Burns,  was  continued  by  Sir  Walter  Scott  and 
finished  by  Thomas  Carlyle.  The  Queen's  favorite 
home  was  in  Balmoral  Castle,  and  English  people  were 
adopting  Scottish  fashions.  Their  children  were  wear- 
ing Tarn  O'Shanter  caps,  and  the  women  Balmoral 
skirts  and   Balbriggan  hose.     India  was  invented  for 

311 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

the  benefit  of  the  Scots,  in  order  that  the  Highlanders 

might  raise  the  Siege  of  Lucknow,  and  give  world-wide 

fame  to  that  prophetic*  Scotch  woman.     In  like  vein 

he  continued  his  address  to  the  great  delight  of  the 

gathering. 

*     *     *     * 

After  Mr.  Sala  died  in  England  a  number  of  years 

later,  the  following  letter  appeared  in  the  Commercial 

Gazette: 

Cincinnati,  December  9,  1895. 
To  the  Editor: 

In  the  most  interesting  sketch  of  the  late  Mr. 
George  Augustus  Sala,  perhaps  the  greatest  special 
correspondent  of  them  all,  in  today's  issue,  you 
simply  allude  to  a  gift  which  he  possessed  in  an 
unusual  degree,  viz:  the  power  of  speech.  Up  to 
the  time  of  his  death  he  was  considered  and  fre- 
quently referred  to  as  the  best  after-dinner  speaker 
in  London,  a  distinction  he  is  said  to  have  enjoyed 
since  the  death  of  Charles  Dickens,  twenty-five 
years  ago. 

On  the  occasion  of  his  visit  to  Cincinnati  some 
ten  years  past,  he  was  the  guest  of  the  Burns  Club 
at  their  annual  dinner,  and  the  charming  and  spark- 
ling and  altogether  original  remarks  he  made,  on 
that  occasion,  will  not  be  forgotten  by  those  whose 
privilege  it  was  to  hear  them.  And  yet  he  said 
nothing  in  particular.  It  was  the  sparkle,  the  un- 
conventionality,  the  brightness,  the  charm,  the  wit, 
the  indefinable  something  which  causes  one  to  feel 
he  is  under  the  spell  of  a  master  that  made  the 
impression. 

Among  other  speakers  on  that  occasion  were  the 
late  General  Noyes  and  Mr.  Murat  Halstead,  both 
of  whom  knew  Mr.  Sala  well.  Mr.  Halstead  and 
Mr.  Sala  had  been  fellow-correspondents  during 
both  our  own  Civil  War,  and  the  Franco-Prussian 
War  of  1870-71.  Mr.  J.  B.  Forakerf  and  Judge 
Samuel  F.  Hunt  were  also  present. 

The  style  and  manner  and  matter  of  the  speech 

*I  have  heard  mutiny  veterans  say  that  this  story  is  bosh. 
tAfterward   Governor  of  Ohio  and   United  States  Senator. 


CINCINNATI THE    ROBERT    BURNS    CLUB 

were  so  different  from  what  Cincinnatians  had 
been  accustomed  to  hear  before,  that  it  must 
have  come  in  the  nature  of  a  revelation  to  most 
of  those  present.  If  Murat  Halstead  never  laughed 
before  nor  since,  he  laughed  that  night. 

William  Gibson. 
*      *      *      * 

One  of  the  active  members  of  the  Burns  Club  at 
that  period  was  Mr.  Charles  Stewart,  and  he  had  a 
friend  and  neighbor  whose  name  was  Mr.  Theodore 
Cook.  One  evening  Cook,  a  former  president  of  the 
Cincinnati  Southern  Railway,  said  to  Stewart:  "Charlie, 
you  are  a  strange  combination — a  Scotsman,  a  Repub- 
lican and  a  Catholic;  how  is  it  possible  for  any  man 
to  be  all  three  .f^" 

Stewart  said,  "Well,  Theodore,  as  for  being  a  Scots- 
man, I  was  not  consulted  on  that  subject;  as  for  being 
a  Catholic,  the  Reformation  as  you  call  it,  we  call  it  the 
Revolution,  did  not  reach  as  far  north  as  Aberdeenshire 
where  my  forbears  had  lived  for  centuries,  and  where 
I  was  born,  therefore  they  were  not  contaminated  by 
you  heretics;  as  for  being  a  Republican,  I  was  a  boy 
in  Albany,  N.  Y.,  when  the  war  broke  out.  All  the 
boys  of  our  family  who  were  old  enough  joined  the 
army,  and  those  of  them  who  lived  to  be  mustered  out 
were  Republicans,  and,  when  I  was  old  enough  to  vote, 
I  thought  that  if  the  principles  of  that  party  had  been 
good  enough  for  them  to  fight  and  die  for,  they  were 
good  enough  for  me  to  vote  for." 

*     *     *     * 

In  1895  I  was  for  the  third  time  president  of  the 
Club,  and  at  the  annual  dinner,  Mr.  M.  E.  Ingalls 
spoke  to  the  "Immortal  Memory."  I  introduced  the 
speaker  as  follows: 

213 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

My  brother  members  of  the  Burns  Club,  and  guests: 

A  certain  much-discussed  poet  and  playwright,  who 

flourished  many  years  ago,  and  who  might  have  been 

a  Scotsman  but  for  the  accident  of  birth,  wrote  that 

"brevity  is  the  soul  of  wit." 

It  is  fortunate  for  me,  but  perhaps  more  fortunate 
for  you,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  chairman  on  an 
occasion  like  the  present  to  observe  this  injunction 
and  be  brief.  I  purpose  therefore  to  say  but  a  word, 
and  then  lapse  into  silence  which  is  said  to  be  golden, 
and  sit  like  Paul  of  old  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel,  and 
listen  to  our  distinguished  guests,  who  by  their  presence 
here  tonight,  have  honored  not  only  the  Burns  Club, 
but  the  land  which  gave  Robert  Burns  to  the  world. 

We  are  here  in  no  spirit  of  self -exaltation ;  we  are 
here  to  rekindle  and  keep  alive  our  association  with  a 
land  which  has  made  an  indelible  mark  in  history;  we 
are  here  to  do  honor  to  that  which  is  eternally  unfor- 
gotten  and  unforgetable — the  memory  of  Robert  Burns. 
We  are  humble  worshippers  at  the  shrine  of  his  divine 
genius;  we  are  here  to  scatter  flowers  on  the  grave  of 
Scotland's  best  loved  son. 

Sir  Walter  Scott  was  largely  instrumental  in  revealing 
Scotland  to  the  outside  world.  He  shot  the  search- 
light of  his  genius  into  her  unexplored  history.  He 
popularized  Scotland.  In  his  poetry  he  praised  her 
chivalry,  and  displayed  her  wealth  of  tradition.  What 
the  dead  masters  have  done  for  Scotland  is  being 
done  today  by  her  living  authors.  The  mantle  of 
Sir  Walter  has  fallen  on  Robert  Louis  Stevenson. 
And  we  hear  much  at  present  of  "Kailyard"  literature. 
There  are  competent  judges  who  hold  that  we  are 
having  too  much  of  it.  But  it  cannot  be  gainsaid  that 
Scottish  novels,  sketches  and  stories  have,  for  the 
time,  captivated  the  reading  public  all  over  the  English- 
speaking  world.  If  the  literature  of  a  country  be 
popular,  it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  that  country  is 


CINCINNATI THE    ROBERT    BURNS    CLUB 

being  rauch  discussed,  and  is  retaining  a  firm  hold  on 
the  imagination  and  affection  of  the  pubhc. 

Our  motto  in  holding  these  annual  celebrations 
has  not  been  "Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  tomorrow  we 
die,"  but  rather,  "Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  tomorrow 
we  live."  They  serve  to  give  expression  to  the  pride 
of  race  and  the  loyalty  to  national  traditions  which 
characterize  the  Scottish  people  wherever  they  are 
found,  and  which  neither  time  nor  changed  surround- 
ings can  impair.  Furthermore,  they  illustrate  in  a 
notable  way  the  service  which  the  race  has  rendered 
to  the  cause  of  civilization  by  its  cultivation  of  the 
refining  arts  of  poetry  and  literature  which  from  time 
immemorial  have  been  held  in  high  esteem  and  pursued 
with  unflagging  zeal  by  the  Scottish  people. 

It  has  been  said  that  good  Scotsmen  usually  make 
good  Americans.  It  had  been  better  said  that  good 
Scotsmen  always  make  good  Americans.  From  the 
days  of  Alexander  Hamilton  down  to  the  present  day, 
we  believe  there  has  never  been  a  period  when  citizens 
of  Scottish  birth  or  Scottish  ancestry  have  not  exer- 
cised their  hands  and  their  brains  in  the  interests  of 
this  Republic  and  her  liberties. 

It  is  with  the  hope  that  we  will  be  better  for  meeting 
here;  it  is  with  the  hope  that  we  may  live  greater  lives 
tomorrow  and  with  each  succeeding  tomorrow  that 
we  meet  and  eat  and  drink  here  at  all.  In  these 
meetings  we  have  no  knowledge  of  political  or  party 
questions — we  recognize  no  party,  except  the  most 
agreeable  party  I  see  seated  around  these  tables.  I 
hail  it  as  the  noblest  and  most  beautiful  circumstance 
of  all  that  we  gather  together  on  neutral  ground; 
nothing  of  a  class  or  sectarian  nature  mars  our  pleasure. 
We  assert  only  the  great  and  omnipotent  principle 
which  I  cannot  express  better  than  in  the  living, 
burning  words  of  Burns  himself.  We  assert  only: 
"That  man  to  man  the  world  o'er 
Shall  brothers  be  for  a'  that." 

215 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

But  it  is  my  duty  to  observe  the  silence  which 
I  have  commended  as  golden,  and  before  resuming 
my  seat  I  shall  take  the  opportunity  to  announce  the 
regrets  of  several  gentlemen  who  are  prevented  from 
being  with  us.  I  will  not  detain  you  with  the  letters 
but  simply  mention  the  names:  The  Right  Reverend 
Bishop  of  this  Diocese,  Dr.  Boyd  Vincent;  the  Rev. 
Peter  Robertson;  Governor  McKinley;*  The  Solicitor 
General  of  the  United  States,  f  General  Kilpa trick 
of  Springfield — a  Scotsman  whose  name  was  enrolled 
early  when  the  volunteers  were  called  for  in  1861; 
Mr.  David  Gibson;  Dr.  Gray  don;  Mr.  Perry  Heath 
and  others. 

Gentlemen,  I  will  not  further  interpose  myself  between 
you  and  the  pleasure  we  all  anticipate  in  hearing  the 
speakers  whose  names  appear  on  our  program,  neither 
will  I  be  guilty  of  anything  so  utterly  unnecessary  as 
to  attempt  to  introduce  to  you  the  distinguished 
gentleman  whose  name  is  coupled  with  the  toast  which, 
at  a  Burns  banquet,  always  comes  first — a  gentleman 
who  has  done  much  for  our  beautiful  city — by  whose 
works  we  know  him,  and  whose  name  is  written  in 
all  his  deeds. 

Gentlemen,  Mr.   Melville  E.   Ingalls. 

*     *     *     * 

Among  the  many  distinguished  men  who  were  in 
sympathy  with  these  celebrations  was  the  Hon.  Samuel 
F.  Hunt,  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Superior  Court  of 
Cincinnati.  He  always  impressed  me  as  being  of  the 
type  of  man  who  would  never  wilfully  and  designedly 
"walk  in  the  counsel  of  the  ungodly,  nor  stand  in  the 
way  of  sinners  nor  sit  in  the  seat  of  the  scornful." 

Mr.  Hunt  was  a  member  of  the  Society  of  the  Cin- 
cinnati, a  hereditary  patriotic  society  which  was  organ- 

•Afterwards  President  of  the  United  States. 
tMr.  Lawrence  Maxwell,  a  member  of  the  Club. 

216 


CINCINNATI THE    ROBERT    BURNS    CLUB 

ized  in  1783  by  the  American  and  European  officers 
of  the  Continental  army.  The  object  of  the  society,  as 
stated  at  the  time,  was  "to  perpetuate  the  mutual  friend- 
ships which  have  been  formed  under  the  pressure  of 
common  danger  *  *  *  the  Society  to  endure  as  long 
as  they  shall  endure,  or  any  of  their  closest  male 
posterity."  As  the  officers  were  about  to  return  to 
their  homes  which  they  had  left  to  fight  the  battles  of 
the  Republic  they  named  the  organization  the  Society 
of  the  Cincinnati,  after  their  Roman  prototype,  Lucius 
Quinctius  Cincinnatus. 

Mr.  Hunt  was  one  of  the  most  genial  and  delightful 
of  associates.  He  was  a  gentleman,  a  scholar  and  a 
lawyer.  He  seemed,  as  did  Lord  Bacon,  "to  have 
taken  all  knowledge  for  his  province."  He  devoured 
law  books  as  a  caterpillar  eats  mulberry  leaves,  and 
curls  up  and  digests  them  into  fine  silk.  His  wit  was 
of  the  richest  order  and  he  was  the  most  charming 
of  after-dinner  speakers.  Like  Yorick,  he  would  "set 
the  table  in  a  roar."  He  never  missed  a  Burns  dinner, 
and  among  many  other  accomplishments  which  every 
gentleman  should  possess,  he  knew  how  to  write  a 
letter  as  the  following  will  show: 

Consultation  Room 
The  Superior  Court  of  Cincinnati 
My  dear  Mr.  Gibson: 

The  invitation  to  be  present  at  the  annual  dinner  to  the 
memory  of  Robert  Burns  is  accepted  with  acknowledgments  for 
the  courtesy. 

The  quotation  from  Ben  Jonson  is  capital. 

Please  say  to  Mrs.  Gibson  that  her  last  dinner  was  excellent 
and  greatly  enjoyed.  Faithfully, 

January  the  Sixteenth,  1895.  Samuel  F.  Hunt. 

217 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

Consultation  Room 
The  Superior  Court  of  Cincinnati 

My  dear  Mr.  Gibson: 

The  announcement  of  the  one  hundred   and  thirty-seventh 
anniversary  of  Burns'  Birthday  is  at  hand. 

The  literary  part  of  the  work  is  excellent,  and  you  are  most 
fortunate  in  the  selection  of  speakers. 

I  have  only  words  of  commendation.     I  must  say,  my  good 
friend,  that  you  are  incomparable  in  this  direction. 

Believe  me.  Faithfully 

St.  Jackson's  Day,  1896.  Samuel  F.  Hunt. 

To  Mr.  William  Gibson. 

Baird  Oak 
My  dear  Mr.  Gibson: 

It  was  gratifying  to  me  to  notice  the  splendid  personal  tribute 
at  Pittsburgh. 

I  follow  you  and  yours  with  an  abiding  affection. 

Believe    me,    your    attached    friend, 
Glendale,  Ohio,  Oct.  24,  1900.  Samuel  F.  Hunt. 


218 


LETTER  XVI 

CINCINNATI THE    FRIENDLY   SONS    OF    ST.    PATRICK 

An  address  before  the  Society  of  the  Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick,  1894. 

JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL,  one  of  the  most 
successful  exponents  of  after-dinner  speaking,  once 
enumerated  what  he  called  "the  ingredients  of  after- 
dinner  oratory."  "They  are,"  he  said,  "the  joke,  the 
quotation,  and  the  platitude,"  and  he  goes  on  to  say 
that  in  his  judgment,  the  successful  platitude  requires 
a  very  high  order  of  genius.  Thus  admonished,  I  shall 
keep  my  weather  eye  open  for  thin  ice. 

When  Dr.  Graydon — by  the  way,  a  member  of  a 
more  ancient  and  a  somewhat  more  universal  order 
than  either  the  Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick  or  the 
Caledonian  Society,  an  order  which  knows  no  bounds 
or  nationality  or  party  or  creed,  and  the  constitution 
of  which  is  still  unwritten — I  refer  to  the  ancient  and 
cosmopolitan  order  of  scholarship  and  brains — when 
Dr.  Graydon  conveyed  to  me  the  invitation  of  your 
committee  to  respond  to  this  toast  I  felt  so  vanquished 
and  subdued  that  he  acually  took  my  breath  away. 

It  had  been  my  hope  to  attend  the  Friendly  Sons' 
banquet,  as  I  had  done  with  so  much  pleasure  and 
profit  in  previous  years,  and  stake  my  reputation  on 
the  power  of  observing  a  golden  silence. 

Your  committee  has  entrusted  me  with  a  toast  the 
very  mention  of  which  in  a  meeting  of  "Friendly  Sons," 
is,  I  am  sure,  its  own  recommendation.  It  is  our 
"Guests  and  Sister  Societies."     The  mere  use  of  the 

219 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

term  "Sister  Societies"  implies,  as  I  believe,  the 
existence  of  a  cordial  and  friendly  and  fraternal  feeling 
between  the  members  of  these  societies,  and  I  am 
very  glad  and  very  proud  to  say  that  I  never  once 
attended  a  Friendly  Sons,  a  New  England  or  a  Cale- 
donian Society  banquet  at  which  this  delicate  senti- 
ment was  not  given  an  honored  place  on  the  programme. 

What  more  beautiful  sentiment  than  that  expressed 
in  the  term  "Our  Sister  Societies"  could  be  honored 
at  these  annual  gatherings — gatherings  which  bring 
us  together  on  an  independent  footing  and  on  neutral 
ground?  These  meetings  give  echoing  expression  to 
the  gayest  and  gladdest  impulses  of  our  nature.  They 
glow  with  the  mutual  fire  of  mind  brought  into  con- 
tact with  mind.  They  lay  bare  that  rich  mine  of 
joyousness  which  lies  beneath  the  rough  rock  surface 
of  the  national  character.  They  are  a  perennial 
source  of  brightness  and  good  fellowship. 

While  we  glory  in  our  Americanism  and  in  the 
greatness  of  our  adopted  land,  we  do  not,  we  can  not 
forget — we  are  proud  of  our  nationality.  "Show  me  a 
man,"  said  the  late  Senator  Everett,  "who  is  ashamed 
of  the  land  of  his  birth,  and  I  will  show  you  a  man  to 
be  watched  in  the  land  of  his  adoption." 

The  Scottish  and  Irish  citizens  of  Cincinnati  have 
long  recognized  that  the  songs  of  Tom  Moore  and 
Robert  Burns  are  joint  property.  We  feel  that  both 
Moore  and  Burns  came  to  the  whole  world,  although 
one  happened  to  come  by  the  way  of  Ireland  and  the 
other  by  the  w^ay  of  Scotland.  Speaking  of  Burns,  I 
cannot  help  remarking  that  it  is  strange  that  so  many 
truly  great  men  came  to  the  world  by  the  way  of 
cottages.  Abraham  Lincoln  who  is  a  case  in  point, 
used  to  say  that  God  must  have  loved  poor  people — 
he  made  so  many  of  them. 

My  first  impulse  is  to  exchange  congratulations  with 

220 


CINCINNATI^ — -THE    FRIENDLY    SONS    OF    ST.    PATRICK 

you,  and  shake  hands,  in  the  spirit  at  least,  with  every 
member  of  the  Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick. 

Speaking  as  a  Scotsman,  and  as  a  representative  of 
the  Scottish  societies,  it  might  appear  to  be  too  much 
of  an  interchange  of  compliments  between  near  rela- 
tions, so  to  speak,  were  I  to  enter  into  any  lengthened 
expression  of  the  thanks  of  your  "Guests"  for  the 
honor  you  have  done  us. 

I  may  however,  without  impropriety,  remark  that 
your  venerable  sister,  the  Caledonian  Society,  whose 
continuous  existence  in  this  city  dates  from  1825, 
and  her  younger  sister  the  Burns  Club  are  both  strong 
aftd  healthy,  temperate,  wise  and  of  good  repute. 
I  may  further  say,  also  I  trust,  without  impropriety, 
that  they  have  a  great  affection  for  you,  and  that  it 
is  a  great  gratification  to  both  the  Caledonian  Society 
and  the  Burns  Club  to  see  themselves  so  well  remem- 
bered in  your  midst,  and  to  knov/  that  they  are 
honored  guests  at  your  hospitable  board. 

There  are  many  questions  which  it  has  been  said 
will  never  be  satisfactorily  and  finally  answered  by 
man.  For  example  it  has  perplexed  people  to  know 
why  the  young  German  Emperor  quarrelled  with 
Bismarck;  it  has  also  been  a  subject  of  discussion  all 
the  way  from  Mount  Auburn  and  other  seats  of 
learning  in  our  midst,  reaching  even  to  John  O'Groat's 
and  Ballylongford,  as  to  whether  Bacon  wrote  Shake- 
speare. But  there  is  another  unsettled  question  which 
is  of  special  interest  on  an  occasion  like  the  present, 
and  that  is  the  question  as  to  who  St.  Patrick,  whose 
day  we  celebrate,  was. 

While  some  evidence  points  to  his  having  been  an 
Irishman,  and  other  authorities — ^equally  good,  per- 
haps— declare  that  he  was  a  Frenchman,  still  there 
are  certain  obscure  and  revolutionary  individuals  who 
have  been  known  to  set  up  the  claim  that  St.  Patrick 
was  born  in  Scotland.    They  even  go  so  far  as  to  say 

221 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

that  the  wrong  Society  celebrates  the  17th  of  March, 
and  that  possibly  may  have  something  to  do  with 
the  fact  that  I  always  feel  so  much  at  home  among  you. 

Some  unkind  and  ill-informed  persons  have  been 
known  to  intimate  that  the  Scots  are  not  conspicuous 
for  extravagance,  or  even  liberality,  but  I  think  you 
must  admit  that  we  were  very  good  and  generous  to 
you  when  we  sent  you  St.  Patrick,  or  rather  when  we 
allowed  you  to  take  him,  for  we  read  that  he  was 
carried  to  Ireland  as  a  slave  in  his  early  days.  He 
journeyed  to  France  and  then  to  Rome,  and  when 
he  came  to  teach  the  Gospel  in  the  latter  place  his 
heart  became  filled  with  an  ardent  desire  to  return 
to  Ireland  and  convert  her  people  to  Christianity. 
Sometime  about  a.  d.  430  he  found  his  way  back  to 
the  land  of  his  dear  desire.  There  for  sixty  years  he 
labored  and  finally  died  on  Irish  soil. 

St.  Patrick's  day  to  every  student  of  history  is  a 
day  important  to  men  of  every  nationality,  and  of 
every  religious  faith,  as  well  as  to  Irishmen  and  to  those 
who  believe  in  the  Catholic  religion. 

St.  Patrick  proved  that  courage  is  the  greatest  asset 
of  the  human  being,  and  that  what  a  man  is  determined 
to  get,  he  can  get,  if  he  will  fight  persistently  and 
without  fear. 

Ireland  at  this  time  was  indeed  the  center  of  learn- 
ing. It  is  claimed  the  true  shape  of  the  world  was 
recognized  in  Ireland  before  Copernicus,  and  that 
fully  five  hundred  years  before  the  birth  of  Galileo, 
the  solar  system  was  understood  and  taught  with  an 
advanced  knowledge  of  astronomy. 

Through  the  inspiration  of  its  new  faith,  Ireland— 
already  intellectual,  learned,  artistic  and  industrious, 
found  immediate  quickening  of  all  its  ambitions  along 
these  lines.  St.  Patrick  introduced  the  Roman  alpha- 
bet and  popularized  Latin  which  became,  and  so 
continued  for  centuries,  the  channel  of  polite  inter- 

222 


CINCINNATI THE    FRIENDLY    SONS    OF    ST.    PATRICK 

course  among  western  nations.  At  the  same  time  he 
encouraged  culture  and  learning  in  the  Gaelic  mother 
tongue.  Wherever  he  went  in  Ireland  he  was  followed 
by  men  of  intellect  and  skill.  There  were  architects 
and  scribes  in  his  train;  there  were  carpenters  and 
goldsmiths.  For  centuries  afterward  this  influence 
was  felt  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land. 

So  great  is  the  reverence  for  this  supreme  saint  in 
Ireland,  that  this  day  has  been  made  a  legalized  holi- 
day, an  honor  not  conferred  on  the  patron  saint  of 
any  other  country. 

I  would  fain  enlarge  on  Irishmen  whom  I  know  so 
well,  and  on  Ireland  which  I  love  so  well.  I  shall  not 
even  attempt  to  name  any  part  of  the  glittering  array 
of  statesmen  and  soldiers  and  authors  whom  she 
proudly  calls  her  sons.  I  cannot,  however,  refrain 
from  referring,  in  a  word,  to  that  fecundity  of  senti- 
ment and  copiousness  of  expression  which  characterize 
her  orators,  from  Fox  and  Burke;  Grattan  and  Daniel 
O'Connell,  down  to  the  late  Henry  Grady  and  Burke 
Cochran. 

Whether  St.  Andrew  was  a  Scotsman  or  an  Irishman 
may  be  an  open  question,  but  there  can  be  no  question 
that  he  came  to  be  chosen  the  patron  saint  of  Scotland 
because  he  discovered  the  boy  who  had  the  loaves 
and  fishes,  and  the  Scots  have  been  after  the  loaves 
and  fishes  ever  since.  History  is  silent  on  the  question, 
but  it  is  reasonably  certain  that  the  Scots  never  gave 
up  St.  Patrick  without  a  consideration.  Perhaps  it 
was  a  case  of  trading  saints. 

You  may  have  heard  of  the  Kerry  man  who  went 
to  market  and  asked  the  price  of  chickens.  He  was 
told  fifty  cents  apiece.  "Fifty  cents,  why  in  Kerry 
you  could  buy  them  for  sixpence  apiece." 

"Then  why  did  you  not  stay  in  Kerry.?" 

"Sure,"  said  the  Irishman,  "sixpences  are  too  scarce 
over  there." 

22S 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

And  there  was  also  the  New  York  alderman  who, 
visiting  Cork,  drove  out  to  Blarney  Castle.  He  found 
an  old  woman  selling  flowers,  and  he  asked  how  much 
she  charged  for  them: 

She  said,  "A  penny  apiece,  sir." 

"Why,"  said  he,  "you  could  get  fifty  cents  apiece 

for  them  in  New  York." 

"Ah,  yer  honor,"  said  the  old  dame,  "and  if  ye  had 
the  Lakes  of  Killarney  in  hell,  you  could  sell  the 
wather  for  a  dollar  a  pint!" 

I  am  an  entire  stranger  to  some  of  you,  but  not  I  am 
glad  to  say  to  all  of  you,  yet  I  am  no  stranger  and  I 
say  it  with  great  gratitude,  to  the  warmth  of  Irish 
hearts.  Like  the  Scots  they  are  proud  of  their  nation- 
ality and  of  the  race  from  which  they  sprang.  May 
nothing  but  the  channel  ever  roll  between  them. 

*     *     *     * 

The  Dr.  Graydon  (Thomas  W.  Graydon)  above 
referred  to  was  one  of  my  old  and  intimate  friends  in 
Cincinnati.  He  was  an  alumnus  of  Trinity  College, 
Dublin,  and  had  qualified  as  a  physician  and  surgeon 
but,  being  a  man  of  comfortable  means  did  not  in  later 
years  actively  practice  his  profession.  He  preferred 
to  interest  himself  in  educational,  financial  and  munici- 
pal affairs,  although  he  neither  sought  nor  held  office. 
His  devotion  to  the  education  of  his  sons  was  splendid, 
and  all  of  them  were  Harvard  men. 

Graydon  was  the  most  delightful  of  companions. 
With  some  people  the  usual  processes  of  acquaintance- 
ship are  marvellously  hurried  and  curtailed.  Some 
people,  on  the  other  hand,  you  can  meet  every  day 
for  twenty  years  and  never  know  them;  others  you 
know  and  like  in  the  first  twenty  minutes.  The 
pre-established  harmony  is  realized  in  a  few  moments 

2U 


1)|{.  THOMAS   W    (aiAYDON 


CINCINNATI THE    FRIENDLY    SONS    OF    ST.    PATRICK 

of  time;  and  the  new  friend  makes  advances  and  takes 
possession  of  you  before  you  know  where  you  are. 
And  in  my  friendship  with  Graydon  I  was  a  willing 
captive. 

He  was  held  in  respect  and  conJSdence  by  the  com- 
munity. He  had  the  capacity  for  sympathetic  appre- 
ciation of  the  feelings  and  motives  of  others.  From 
him  radiated  a  sweetness  and  tenderness  that  were 
contagious.  He  was  modest  and  unassuming,  never 
vaunting  himself.  If  the  beautiful  dream  of  the  poet 
be  true,  that  on  the  roll  of  the  book  of  gold  hereafter 
the  names  of  those  who  loved  their  fellow  men  shall 
be  first  inscribed,  then  his  name  will  be  found  high  up 
on  the  hst.  Surely  such  a  hfe  did  not  end  when  death 
came.  Its  influence  must  remain  and  pass  on.  There 
is  a  tide  of  thought  and  influence  which  will  continue 
to  flow  towards  its  far-off  ocean.  Like  the  fabled 
fountain  of  Arethusa  it  will  appear  in  the  streams  of 
perennial  beauty.        *     *     *     * 

Not  the  least  of  his  accomplishments  was  his  familiar 
knowledge  of  Shakespeare's  plays.  He  was  fond  of 
the  play. 

On  the  occasion  of  one  of  Henry  Irving's  visits  to 
Cincinnati,  Graydon  had  a  few  friends  to  meet  the 
great  actor  at  the  club  after  the  play,  and  it  was  my 
privilege  to  be  one  of  them.  Another  of  the  guests, 
a  well-known  personage  in  newspaper  life,  who  sat 
next  Irving  was  very  attentive  to  him — indeed  almost 
effusive,  constantly  making  suggestions  or  recom- 
mendations as  to  this  dish  or  that  vintage,  all  of 
which  was  very  poor  form  of  course.  When  the  servant 
came  to  pass  the  cigars,  carrying  two  or  three  boxes  of 

225 


LETTERS    TO   MY    SON 

different  brands  in  one  hand,  this  "well-known  per- 
sonage" remarked,  "Oh,  Sir  Henry,  let  me  recommend 
this  cigar!" 

Irving  put  out  his  hand  in  the  direction  of  the  cigars, 
and  taking  one  without  looking  at  them,  replied  in  a 
quite  audible  whisper,  "Oh,  I'm  sure  our  host  wouldn't 
offer  me  a  poor  cigar!" 

I  have  never  been  quite  sure  whether  Irving's  remark 
was  intended  as  a  gentle  rebuke  or  whether  it  was  only 
another  evidence  of  his  habit  of  observation,  for  it  is 
certain  that  in  any  little  social  attention  given  him 
here  he  never  would  be  offered  a  "poor"  cigar,  although 
he  might  have  encountered  a  "poor"  or  rather  unsuit- 
able glass  of  wine.  The  opposite  is  the  rule  on  the 
other  side.  There  one  may  frequently  encounter 
hitherto  unknown  cigar  brands,  but  never  a  "poor'* 
glass  of  wine.  ^     ^     ^     ^ 

Many  good  stories  were  told  that  night,  and  I  recall 
one  of  them. 

A  well-known  English  actress  who  had  recently  been 
married,  was  the  subject  of  conversation,  when  some 
one  remarked  that  before  the  event  she  had  made  a 
full  confession  to  the  happy  bridegroom  of  all  her 
former  lovers. 

"What  touching  confidence,"  some  one  remarked. 
"What  needless  trouble,"  said  another. 
Whereupon  Howard  Saxby  piped  in  with:     "What 
a  remarkable  memory!" 

4:         :ic  4=  4= 

Irving  to  me  was  a  wonderful  actor.  Of  course,  I 
have  not  the  skill  or  power  to  analyze  critically  his 

226 


MR.  IIOWAUI)  SAXBY 


CINCINNATI THE    FRIENDLY    SONS    OF    ST.    PATRICK 

genius,  to  weigh  it  in  the  balance  of  opinion  or  to  say 
that  in  this  it  was  excellent,  or  in  that  it  was  deficient. 
But  this  I  do  say,  that  he  had  the  extraordinary  power 
of  expressing  to  me,  and  making  me  comprehend  what 
was  in  his  own  mind  and  what  was  his  own  distinct 
intellectual  conviction.  It  is  not  for  me,  a  mere  occa- 
sional, a  very  occasional  play-goer,  to  pick  out  this 
particular  character  or  that  particular  character,  but 
in  my  judgment  the  genius  of  Irving  culminated  in 
Shylock  and  in  the  intense  malignity   of  the   villain 

in  the  Lyons  Mail. 

*  *     *     * 

Graydon  had  a  fund  of  Irish  stories  and  the  following 
is  one  of  the  period: 

An  American  sympathizer  with  Ireland  was  told 
by  a  local  leader  of  the  Fenians  at  Queens  town,  that 
the  Fenians  were  so  strong  that  they  could  "anny  day 
dhrive  out  the  opprissor!" 

"Well,  why  don't  you  do  it,  then.'^"  the  American 
asked. 

"Sure,"  the    reply    came  back,    "the   police    won't 

let  us." 

*  *     *     * 

Cincinnati,  March  1st,  1900. 
My  dear  Billy: 

I  am  heartbroken!  You  know  how  we  both  loved  Graydon. 
Well,  he's  gone.  Thank  God  you  are  left.  He  was  awfully  fond 
of  you,  and  the  last  time  I  saw  him  he  told  me  how  they  were 
looking  forward  to  the  pleasure  of  entertaining  you  and  Mrs. 
Gibson  in  the  near  future. 

I  have  just  returned  from  a  two  weeks'  lecture  tour*  and 
got  your  letter  about  Press  Club  Banquet  only  this  morning. 
Wire  me  when  you  come  and  make  my  house  your  home. 
Together  we  sorrow  today.  Always  yours, 

Howard  Saxbt, 

*This  reference  is  to  a  course  of  readings  given  by  Whitcomb  Riley  and  Howard  Sazby. 

227 


LETTER  XVII 

THE    BIG    FOUR    RAILROAD 
DISCIPLINE    OF    RAILROAD    EMPLOYEES— 1895 

IT  was  the  custom  of  the  Big  Four  Railroad  for  many 
years  at  the  periodical  staff  meetings  to  make  a 
feature  of  each  meeting  the  reading  of  a  paper  on 
some  subject  of  Hving  and  general  interest. 

These  meetings  were  held  for  a  family  discussion  of 
the  railroad  and  its  affairs,  when  questions  of  operating 
efficiency,  improved  service  and  other  betterments 
were  taken  up,  one  at  a  time,  and  seriously  discussed, 
and  my  old  friend  Mr.  J.  Q.  Van  Winkle,  the  General 
Superintendent  usually  presided  and  he  saw  to  it  that 
there  was  nothing  perfunctory  about  them. 

On  one  of  these  occasions  I  was  assigned  the  subject 
"Discipline  of  Railroad  Employees,"  with  special 
reference  to  engine  and  train  service.  At  the  period 
to  which  reference  is  made  there  was  quite  a  wave  of 
talk  on  the  subject,  but  the  first  public  utterance  was 
a  paper  read  by  Mr.  Ralph  Peters,*  Superintendent 
of  the  Cincinnati  Division,  Pennsylvania  Lines  West. 
This  brought  out  many  others  but  the  following  paper 
was  a  departure  from  any  which  preceded  it,  in  that 
it  flatly  put  up  to  officials  their  full  share  of  respon- 
sibility for  a  situation  which  was  then  rapidly  becoming 
serious,  and  which  upon  the  whole  has  been  very  badly 
and  weakly  handled  on  the  railroad  side.  Operating 
officials  held  meetings  and  made  agreements  with  each 

•Now   President   Long   Island   Railroad. 

228 


THE    BIG    FOUR    RAILROAD 

other  and  they  too  often  kept  them  Hke  a  bunch  of 
general  freight  agents  of  the  period. 

This  contribution  to  the  discussion  of  discipKne  was 
generally  published  and  elicited  quite  a  good  deal  of 
comment.  A  few  of  the  letters  received  at  the  time, 
and  which  have  survived  are  given. 

Paper  Read  by  Mr.  William  Gibson,  Supt. 

In  discussing  the  question  of  discipline  I  shall  at 
the  outset  assume  that  we  are  agreed  on  two  points: 

First,  that  in  the  matter  of  discipline  prevention  is 
better  than  cure. 

Second,  that  the  divine  injunction  to  do  unto  others 
as  we  would  be  done  by  is  still  a  living  principle,  and 
not  a  dead  letter,  for  regardless  of  any  superfine  theory 
to  the  contrary,  the  "personal  equation"  is  the  one 
that  comes  home  to  the  human  breast  with  greater 
force  than  the  abstract  principle. 

So  much  has  been  said  and  written  in  the  past  year 
on  the  subject  of  discipline  that  one  is  at  a  loss  where 
to  begin  and  what  not  to  say,  and  my  endeavor  in  this 
paper  will  be  to  comment  on  the  subject  in  a  conver- 
sational way,  and  in  a  way  which,  I  trust,  will  provoke 
friendly  discussion. 

It  being  admitted,  then,  that  in  the  matter  of  dis- 
cipline prevention  is  more  profitable  than  cure,  it 
seems  to  me  that  our  first  duty  is  to  see  to  it  that  only 
good  material  is  hired  for  brakemen  and  firemen. 
Just  what  is  meant  by  the  term  good  material  it  is  not 
easy  to  define  accurately,  although  I  feel  certain  that 
the  point  of  the  expression  will  readily  appeal  to  any 
one  who  has  had  charge  of  trainmen.  By  good  material 
I  mean  young  men,  preferably  not  exceeding  22  or  23 
years  old,  of  good  physique  and  good  habits,  and  who 
possess  at  least  a  fair  elementary  education. 

As  a  general  principle  I  believe  it  is  good  policy  for 
each  division  to  make  its  own  men,  and  that  the  rule 

^29 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

should  only  be  departed  from  where  the  force  has  been 
allowed  to  run  down,  or  following  such  an  emergency 
as  we  were  confronted  with  in  the  A.  R.  U.  strike  of 
July,  1894.  Then  the  only  alternative  is  to  hire 
experienced  men  and  build  up  the  service  with  a  new 
force.  In  either  event,  however,  no  one,  more  espe- 
cially a  so-called  experienced  man,  should  be  taken 
into  the  service  without  first  making  a  most  searching 
inquiry  into  his  antecedents. 

The  result  of  not  filling  the  ranks  with  good  material 
must  be  apparent  to  all  of  us,  and  there  are  few  divi- 
sions on  which  one  can  not  find  men  running  both 
trains  and  engines  whom  nature  must  have  intended 
for  anything  imder  the  sun  but  railroad  men. 

Speaking  generally  and  taking  one  division  with 
another,  or  for  that  matter  one  system  with  another, 
I  have  about  come  to  the  conclusion  that  75  per  cent 
of  the  men  in  train  and  engine  and  yard  service  may 
be  classified  as  first-class  men,  provided  they  are 
handled  by  efficient  officials,  and  })rovided  also  that 
they  are  treated  fairly  and  without  partiality.  Fifteen 
per  cent,  which  for  the  sake  of  distinction  I  will  call 
the  second  class,  are  good,  steady,  promising  men,  who 
are  working  hard  to  qualify  themselves  for  the  first 
class.  This  gives  us  90  per  cent  who  are  all  right,  if 
handled  right. 

The  remaining  10  per  cent  or  third  class,  are  the 
people  on  a  railroad  who  keep  division  officials  busy. 
The  chief  end  of  their  existence  seems  to  be  to  get  in 
the  miles  or  the  time  regardless  of  how  their  work  is 
done,  to  make  as  much  overtime  as  possible,  and  to 
trump  up  imaginary  grievances.  The  percentage  of 
this  last  class  will  rise  or  fall  according  to  the  caliber 
of  the  trainmaster  and  master  mechanic,  and  blessed 
is  the  superintendent  who  has  associated  with  him  a 
master  mechanic  and  a  trainmaster  with  their  assist- 
ants, who  can  so  select  and  control  and  educate  their 

230 


THE    BIG    FOUR    RAILROAD 

men  that  this  percentage  will  be  reduced  to  an  abso- 
lute minimum. 

Past  history  has  demonstrated  that  this  third  class 
(and  it  is  not  by  any  means  confined  to  young  men) 
can  not  be  too  closely  looked  after,  with  a  view  to 
educating  or  clubbing  it  upward  if  possible,  or  to, 
otherwise,  wiping  it  out  of  existence — for  the  only  way 
to  reform  some  men  is  to  reform  them  out  of  the  service. 
Our  experience  in  the  recent  labor  trouble  taught  us 
that  this  class  did  exist  on  the  Big  Four  road,  and  we 
know  that  it  not  only  swallowed  up  the  second,  but 
made  such  inroads  into  the  first  as  to  temporarily 
paralyze  the  freight  traffic  of  the  system. 

But  we  must  not  throw  all  the  blame  on  the  men, 
and  I  desire  to  be  very  specific  on  this  point,  even  at 
the  risk  of  appearing  to  go  out  of  my  way.  Most  of 
the  writers  who  have  recently  appeared  in  print  on 
this  discipline  question  seem  to  have  tacitly  assumed 
that  officials  enjoy  a  monopoly  of  the  wisdom  to  be 
found  on  a  railroad.  Such  I  think  is  very  far  from  being 
the  case,  and  I  trust  there  may  be  no  offense  in  my 
saying  that  I  do  not  believe  we  can  discuss  the  dis- 
cipline question  to  advantage  unless  we  disabuse  our 
minds  of  any  such  hypothesis. 

It  behooves  us  to  look  nearer  home  for  much  of  the 
cause  of  dissatisfaction  and  discontent  which  are 
certain  forerunners  of  trouble.  Railroad  men  who  are 
my  seniors,  and  my  masters  in  the  profession,  tell  me 
that  not  so  many  years  ago  the  grievance  committee, 
as  we  understand  the  term  today,  was  a  totally  unknown 
quantity,  and  why .5^     Echo  answers,  Why.^^ 

Is  it  not  simply  because  the  growth  and  development 
of  the  employee  has  been  out  of  proportion  to  the 
growth  of  the  average  official?  Have  a  large  propor- 
tion of  officials,  and  I  use  the  term  in  the  widest  geo- 
graphical sense,  not  stood  still  while  the  rank  and  file 
have  progressed  .f^     Have  we  not  been  overlooking  the 

2S1 


LETTERS    TO    MY   SON 

fact  that  the  average  employee  of  today  is  a  man  of 
education  superior  to  that  of  his  class  twenty  years 
ago?  Have  we  not  been  applying  old  methods  to  new 
material?  Certain  it  is  that  education  is  the  forcing  bed 
of  intelligence,  and  intelligence  begets  reasoning  power. 
Is  the  modern  grievance  committee  not  to  a  great 
extent  the  result  of  indiscriminating,  unfair  and  arbi- 
trary decisions  made  in  the  dealing  out  of  so-called 
discipline  for  irregularities,  real  and  technical,  as  well 
as  unavoidable?  Did  the  officer  not  too  often  go  into 
an  investigation  and  sit  in  the  height  of  the  scorner's 
chair,  firm  in  the  belief  that  he  was  a  prosecuting 
attorney  instead  of  a  truth-seeker?  Did  he  not  too 
often  lose  sight  of  the  fundamental  principle  that  in 
the  operation  and  management  of  a  railroad  property 
the  interests  of  official  and  employee  are  identical — 
that  they  should  be  in  sympathy  with  each  other  and 
pull  together?  The  ignoring  of  this  principle  has  had 
disastrous  effects,  and  it  requires  but  little  acumen 
to  see  that  the  corporations  will  pay  the  fiddler. 

Decisions  were  given  which  intelligent  trainmen 
knew  were  not  sound,  and  who  can  calculate  the 
demoralizing  effect  of  such  action,  regardless  of  whether 
the  men  escaped  being  disciplined  when  they  should 
have  been  or  otherwise?  A  just  suspension  may 
benefit  a  man,  though  it  seldom  does,  but  an  unjust 
one  changes  all  his  blood  to  gall.  The  losses  mankind 
sustain  may  be  borne  with  philosophical  patience, 
unless  they  are  the  fruits  of  manifest  injustice.  If  they 
come  from  injustice,  they  rankle  in  the  bosom  so  long 
as  there  is  a  beating  heart. 

With  the  increased  intelligence  of  trainmen  came  a 
protest  against  such  action,  which  the  generation 
preceding  them  would  have  accepted  as  a  matter  of 
course.  Gentlemen,  have  we  not  been  putting  old 
wine  in  new  bottles?  That  quotation  is  made  with 
apologies  to  St.  Luke. 

232 


THE    BIG    FOUR    RAILROAD 

Was  it  not  for  self-protection  that  the  men  banded 
themselves  together?  Is  it  not  also  true  that,  embold- 
ened by  their  success  in  presenting  legitimate  griev- 
ances, and  never  being  slow  to  perceive  when  they 
were  dealing  with  vacillating  and  weak-kneed  officials, 
they  then  took  up,  as  an  after-thought,  such  questions 
as  callers,  hostlers,  constructive  mileage,  overtime, 
and,  finally,  the  wage  scale,  with  results  which  need 
not  here  be  enumerated? 

Beware  of  committees,  but  above  all  beware  of 
making  committees.  The  prudent  and  intelligent 
officer  will,  by  slow  degrees  and  constant  contact, 
educate  his  men  to  the  fact  that  he  is  their  friend  and 
master.  He  will  know  them,  and,  when  necessary, 
will  freely  converse  with  them.  He  will  encourage 
them  to  come  to  him  as  individuals  with  any  legitimate 
grievance  which  may  exist.  He  will  frankly  discuss 
such  questions.  He  will  give  decided  answers  promptly. 
His  no  will  be  "No,"  and  his  yes  will  be  "Yes."  He 
will  never  indulge  in  the  mental  gymnastics  known  as 
"straddling  a  fence."  He  will  fearlessly  and  honestly 
let  his  men  know  where  he  stands.  In  requiring  the 
most  absolute  truthfulness  on  the  part  of  his  men  he 
will  faithfully  accord  it  on  his  part  without  evasion 
or  mental  reservation. 

No  official  can  maintain  or  enforce  discipline  unless 
he  has  the  respect  of  his  force,  and  no  one  can  have 
the  real  respect  of  his  force  unless  by  his  actions  he 
commands  it. 

Speaking  for  the  Cincinnati  Division,  I  am  very 
glad  to  say  that  the  men  realize  that  there  is  now  no 
need  of  committees.  Each  man  is  his  own  committee 
on  his  own  grievance.  We  have  had  no  committees 
from  any  class  of  employees  on  any  subject  whatever 
for  a  period  of  nearly  two  years,  nor  would  I  tolerate* 
the  committee  system  as  it  existed  several  years  ago. 
No    superintendent   can   spend   half   of   his   time   on 

•Note  1913.     I  have  to  smile  today  at  my  use  of  the  word  "tolerate." 

233 


LETTERS    TO    MY   SON 

committees  and  give  his   division  the  close  personal 
supervision  which  is  necessary. 

As  I  stated  at  the  outset,  we  consider  we  have  three 
classes  of  men,  and  we  also  have  three  grades  of  dis- 
cipline,   viz:      Reprimand,    suspension   and   dismissal. 

Where  discipline  is  necessary  we  aim  to  apply  the 
reprimand  whenever  possible,  and  I  do  not  believe 
that  I  am  wandering  into  the  realms  of  Utopia  when 
I  declare  the  belief  that  a  force  properly  selected  and 
trained,  and  judiciously  handled,  can,  in  time,  be 
brought  to  such  a  state  of  efficiency  and  loyalty  that 
the  necessity  for  either  suspension  or  dismissal  will 
be  of  very  rare  occurrence.  Such  offences  as  dishonesty, 
intoxication,  misrepresentation  of  facts,  or  insubordi- 
nation, I  will  not  take  up  your  time  discussing.  They 
all  call  for  immediate  and  unceremonious  dismissal. 

In  a  recent  paper,  and,  by  the  way,  in  many  respects 
one  of  the  ablest  papers  I  have  yet  seen  on  the  subject, 
Mr.  Darlington,  of  the  Indianapolis  Division  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Lines,  stated  that  suspensions  and  fines, 
as  forms  of  discipline,  were  relics  of  barbarism.  I 
heartily  agree  with  him,  and  God  speed  the  day  when 
they  will  be  unknown  on  this  and  every  other  system. 
I  do  not,  however,  agree  with  the  Fall  Brook*  idea  of 
bulletins  which  he  has  adopted.  The  system  of  bulletins 
may  do  very  well  where  it  is  so  arranged  that  no  one 
but  an  employee  of  the  division  can  have  access  to 
them,  although  even  then  I  would  question  the  wisdom 
of  the  plan,  but  where  the  public  can  reach  them,  as 
they  could  in  our  case,  the  practice  is  open  to  strong 
objection.  It  must  be  humiliating  in  the  extreme  to 
any  man  to  have  his  offense  advertised,  and  where 
you  needlessly  humiliate  a  man  you  demoralize  him 
and  the  service  suffers. 

Mr.  Darlington's  idea  of  recording  debits  and  credits 
is  a  very  happy  one,  and  practically  abolishes  actual 
suspension,  and  for  that  reason  I  favor  it;  in  fact  I 

•This  reference  is  to  a  paper  by  Mr.  Brown,  Superintendent  of  the  Fall  Brook  Railroad. 

23Jf 


THE    BIG    FOUR    RAILROAD 

would  be  willing  to  advocate  any  practical  common- 
sense  plan  to  take  the  place  of  suspension.  Still  there 
is  a  question  whether  the  system  would  be  appreciated 
by  the  men,  except  on  a  division  where  a  high  morale — 
a  high  state  of  efficiency,  already  existed. 

As  stated  before,  we  use  suspension  as  a  form  of 
discipline,  but  never  apply  it  without  feeling  that, 
while  following  a  practice  common  to  the  whole  system, 
in  doing  so,  we  were  behind  and  not  in  touch  with  the 
spirit  of  the  times.  Some  one  will  say,  "It  has  served 
the  purpose  for  a  long  time;  what  have  you  to  offer 
in  its  stead.f*"  I  answer,  true,  it  has  served  the  purpose, 
but  not  by  any  means  served  it  well.  The  stage  coach 
served  the  purpose.  Suspension,  as  a  form  of  discipline, 
has  been  a  dangerous  weapon  in  the  hands  of  a  certain 
class  of  unthinking  officials,  and  the  railroads  have 
paid  dearly  for  its  use  or,  rather,  its  misuse. 

I  have  nothing  original  to  offer  in  its  place  and 
therefore  borrow  Mr.  Darlington's  idea  of  debit  and 
credit,  minus  any  bulletin  arrangement,  and  I  recom- 
mend the  adoption  of  that  plan  on  the  Big  Four  road. 
The  record  can  be  kept  by  the  time-keeper  without 
expense,  and  when  a  record  is  made  a  copy  of  the  entry 
should  be  sent  to  the  man  interested.  If  the  entries 
on  the  debit  side  of  any  man's  account  come  too 
rapidly  it  will  be  regarded  as  evidence  that  he  is 
incompetent  and  not  a  fit  man  for  the  service,  and 
his  removal  will  be  in  order.  These  entries  may  be 
the  result  of  carelessness,  or  of  what  is  known  in  the 
vernacular  of  railroad  life  as  "bad  luck,"  but  in  either 
case  the  action  should  be  the  same,  regardless  of  any 
sentimental  objections  to  the  contrary.  I  have  always 
thought  that  the  rule  of  the  late  Baron  Rothschild, 
to  have  as  little  as  possible  to  do  with  an  unlucky  man, 
was  good  business  policy. 

Our  dischargeable  offenses,  speaking  in  a  general 
way,  will  then  be  dishonesty,  intoxication,  misrepre- 

235 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

sentation  of  facts,  insubordination  and  continued 
incapacity  after  fair  trial,  in  addition  to  what  are  now 
known  as  recklessly  damaging  equipment,  etc. 

If  it  is  not  out  of  place  in  this  paper  I  would,  in 
conclusion,  recommend  the  policy  of  taking  care  of 
old  and  faithful  employees,  men  who  have  grown 
gray  in  the  service. 

I  would  also  recommend  and  urge  upon  our  manage- 
ment that  we  encourage  and  assist  in  the  establishment 
of  branches  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
at  all  important  terminals  as  a  counter  attraction  to 
the  saloon  and  the  street  corner;  that  we  officially 
make  an  effort  to  find  somewhere  for  our  men,  par- 
ticularly our  younger  men,  to  spend  the  evenings 
which  they  lay  over  away  from  home  instead  of  forcing 
them  to  find  it  for  themselves,  and  we  all  know  that 
the  average  boarding  house  can  scarcely  be  expected 
to  be  very  attractive. 

Gentlemen,  I  have  finished.  In  presenting  to  you 
this  paper  on  Discipline  I  have  tried  to  bear  in  mind 
that  there  are  two  sides  to  every  question.  I  trust 
we  will  have  a  full  and  frank  discussion,  for  no  subject 
brought  before  us  can  more  vitally  touch  the  best 
interests  of  this  corporation. 

*     *     *     * 

The  Pittsburgh,  Cincinnati,  Chicago  &  St.  Louis  Ry.  Co. 
Office  of  the  Superintendent,  Cincinnati  Division 

Cincinnati,  Ohio,  May  18,  1895. 
Mr.  William  Gibson, 

Supt.  C.  C.  C.  &  St.  L.  Ry.,  Springfield,  O. 
Dear  Sir:  I  have  your  favor  of  the  16th  inst.,  enclosing  copy 
of  the  proceedings  of  the  Big  Four  family  meeting  at  Indianapolis, 
containing  your  paper  on  Discipline.  It  has  given  me  a  great 
deal  of  pleasure  to  see  what  the  Big  Four  are  doing  and  more 
especially  to  read  your  very  able  document.  As  I  stated  to  you 
yesterday,  my  essay  on  Discipline,  while  the  first  paper  on  the 
subject,  was  simply  a  school-boy's  composition,  and  although 
but  a  feeble  effort,  it  certainly  did  some  good,  since  it  has  resulted 
in  the  preparation  of  such  a  comprehensive  paper  as  we  have 

236 


THE    BIG    FOUR    RAILROAD 

in  this  case  from  you.  I  had  Mr.  Waters  and  several  of  my 
staff  read  the  paper  while  with  me  on  the  pay  car,  yesterday, 
and  they  all  appreciated  it  very  much.  I  heartily  concur  in  all 
that  you  have  said  and  I  congratulate  you  upon  your  success. 

Yours  truly, 

Ralph  Peters,  Superintendent. 

Railway  Engineering  and  Master  Mechanic 

Chicago,  June  4,  1895. 
My  dear  Gibson: 

I  am  greatly  pleased  with  your  paper  on  Discipline.  It  is 
the  strongest  statement  that  has  yet  been  presented  on  the 
subject  and  I  shall  really  feel  under  obligations  if  you  will 
allow  me  to  publish  it. 

I  hope  to  see  you  soon  and  have  a  long  talk  with  you.  Mean- 
while may  the  winds  blow  only  from  the  kindly  airts. 

Your  friend, 

Edwin  N.  Lewis, 

Locomotive  Engineering 
256  Broadway,  New  York 

June  4,  1895. 
Mr.  William  Gibson,  Supt.  C.  C.  C.  &  St.  L.  R.  R. 

Springfield,  Ohio 
My  dear  Gibson: 

I  have  to  thank  you  cordially  for  the  copy  of  the  proceedings 
of  your  April  meeting  and  also  the  programme  of  your  Burns 
Anniversary  Dinner. 

I  have  read  with  a  great  deal  of  interest  your  article  on 
Discipline,  and  I  think  it  is  one  of  the  best  things  I  have  read. 
You  have  the  right  idea  of  treating  men  as  men.  The  school- 
master has  been  too  long  abroad  in  the  land  for  any  other 
method  to  prevail  or  continue.  I  shall  take  pleasure  in  using 
as  much  of  it  in  the  paper  as  I  can. 

The  Burns  programme  is  unique.  It  is  the  finest  thing  of 
the  kind  I  have  ever  seen,  and  I  have  seen  a  great  many  of  them. 
You  only  made  one  mistake  in  connection  with  that  dinner, 
which  was — that  you  did  not  invite  the  ardent  Scot  who  walks 
about  in  my  shoes.  I  should  have  been  very  glad  to  make  a 
journey  to  Cincinnati  had  I  known  there  was  such  a  treat  in  store. 

Hoping  that  you  will  not  forget  me  the  next  time,  I  am, 
with  many  thanks,  Yours  very  truly, 

Angus  Sinclair. 


2^7 


LETTER  XVIII 

THE    BIG    FOUR   RAILROAD 
THE    LABOR    QUESTION 

SINCE  the  foregoing  paper  was  written  some 
twenty  years  past  much  water  has  run  under 
many  bridges.  A  mighty  change  has  come  over 
the  land,  and  I  am  amused,  almost  amazed  at  my  use 
of  the  word  "tolerate."  Nowadays  it  is  the  com- 
mittees who  tolerate  the  officials. 

Political  power  today  in  the  Capital  of  this  Nation 
is  in  the  hands  of  a  labor  bureau  and  although,  like 
the  so-called  Irish  vote  of  thirty  years  ago,  organized 
labor  represents  but  a  small  minority  of  the  total  vote 
of  the  country,  it  has  been  able  to  influence  legislation 
with  an  utter  disregard  of  the  rights  of  corporate 
interests,  and  quite  unmindful  of  the  simple  truth  that 
no  class  in  America  can  be  stronger  than  all  Americans. 
No  man,  no  body  of  citizens  however  strong  or  superior 
he  or  they  may  be,  can  ever  be  good  enough  or  wise 
enough  to  possess  irresponsible  power  over  all  other 
citizens.  All  our  public  men  nevertheless,  have  pan- 
dered to  this  power;  they  have  been  politicians  rather 
than  great  public  servants.  I  can  recall  only  one 
notable  exception  worth  recording — a  speech  made 
by  Mr.  Taft  during  his  Presidential  campaign  in  1907 
before  a  mass  meeting  of  the  railroad  unions  in  Chicago. 
Mr.  Roosevelt  actually  joined  one  of  the  brotherhoods 

238 


THE    BIG    FOUR    RAILROAD 

as  an  honorary  member.     Some  wag  during  the  Presi- 
dential campaign  of  1912  very  cleverly  hit  him  off  in 

the  following  parody: 

My    country,    'tis    of    thee, 
Land  that  is  mostly  mine, 

Of  thee  I  yell. 
Land  to  which  I  was  sent 
By  the  Omnipotent, 
Make  me  your  President 

Or  go  to  hell. 

Tjp  7fi  5J>  ^ 

Politicians  do  not  trust  the  people,  they  only  fear 
them;  they  are  always  more  afraid  of  opinion  than  of 
the  facts  and  this  is  why  most  pohticians  are  more 
unfit  than  any  other  class  to  preside  over  the  destinies 
of  this  nation.  The  facts  can  never  be  changed  by  opinion 
and  in  the  end  opinion  must  be  changed  by  the  facts. 
The  people  want  leaders,  they  must  have  leaders,  and 
they  are  willing  to  hsten  to  and  be  led  by  big  enough 
men  who  will  explain  a  situation  to  them  in  terms  of 

sincerity. 

*     *     *     * 

No  thoughtful  man  can  live  today  and  not  realize 
that  the  old  order  is  changing  and  giving  place  to  the 
new  with  the  rapidity  of  a  changing  view.  All  is  in 
flux,  nothing  at  rest  or  permanent.  The  nation  faces 
industrial  changes.  These  changes  seem  fundamental 
to  many  but  they  are  not,  for  fundamental  things  do 
not  change.  Change  is  never  more  than  a  redistribu- 
tion of  that  which  never  changes.  Human  nature 
itself  does  not  change,  but  its  manifestations  change. 
Change  is  the  process  of  adjusting  things  that  are  not 
fundamental.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  finality  in 
the  affairs  of  men. 

239 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

It  may  be  a  species  of  temporary  insanity  which 
directs  its  madness  against  the  corner-stone  of  national 
vitaHty — the  vicious  assaults  on  all  accumulations  of 
wealth,  legislation  by  have-nothings  against  have- 
somethings  have  brought  about  a  condition  of  affairs 
which  chokes  real  progress  of  any  kind,  and  if  not 
checked  may  bring  the  whole  structure  of  American 
achievement  to  ruin.  Nothing  hurts  business  so  much 
as  political  interference.  We  find  ourselves  today  in 
a  new  era,  in  which  statesmen  are  relegated  to  the 
rear  and  their  places  taken  by  demagogues.  The 
people  of  this  country,  the  substantial  and  thoughtful 
men  among  the  working  masses,  the  shopkeepers,  the 
farmers,  the  employers  of  labor,  the  investors  of 
capital  great  and  small  who  recall  the  story  of  the 
past,  see  the  signs  of  trouble.  Let  them  unite  to 
avert  the  tempest. 

It  is  a  high  price  the  American  people  are  paying 
for  the  iconoclasm  that  disguises  itself  under  the 
name  of  progress.  It  is  an  enormous  toll  that  is  being 
exacted  for  their  financial  and  moral  betterment  by 
legislation.  Business  should  be  relieved  from  constant 
interference,  the  railroads  should  be  permitted  in  the 
interest  of  efficient  public  service,  nay,  they  should  be 
required  to  get  on  a  profitable  basis;  capital  should  be 
encouraged  to  work,  and  not  threatened  into  idleness. 
There  has  been  too  much  anti-trust  talk.  If  inde- 
pendent steel  plants  can  grow  up  and  thrive  under 
the  shadow  of  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation, 
and  they  can,  and  they  have,  there  is  no  trust  and 
there  never  can  be  a  trust.  When  the  Steel  Corpora- 
tion was  formed  it  probably  represented  GO  per  cent 

2W 


THE   BIG    FOUR    RAILROAD 

of  the  iron  and  steel  producing  in  the  United  States, 
and  the  independent  firms  40  per  cent.  Now  these 
figures  are  practically   reversed. 

It  is  constantly  said  that  the  independent  concerns 
have  grown  up  under  the  "umbrella"  of  high  prices 
maintained  by  the  Corporation,  and  this  may  be  or 
may  not  be  the  fact,  but  it  is  true  that  today*  the 
Corporation  is  making  concessions  in  prices  to  meet 
the  figures  of  other  manufacturers  in  order  to  keep 
them  out  of  the  Pittsburgh  District.  So  the  trust 
problem  solves  itself.  Railing  at  trusts  has  been  a 
favorite  trick  of  politicians  in  all  parties,  and  yet  with 
all  our  laws,  with  all  our  agitation  and  with  all  our 
dissolutions,  we  are  about  where  we  left  off  years  ago. 
The  controlling  factor  in  the  steel  business  has  con- 
tinued to  be,  not  bonds  but  intelligence. 

*     *     *     * 

No  people  on  earth  are  more  industrious,  enter- 
prising and  ingenious  than  our  own;  none  can  surpass 
them  in  mechanical  genius,  adaptability,  or  industrial 
organization;  none  can  equal  them  in  devising  new 
and  successful  methods  of  making  and  trading;  none 
can  excel  them  in  the  courage  needed  to  invade  and 
conquer  new  markets,  and  they  surpass  all  others  in 
efficiency  and  initiative.  Without  government  co-opera- 
tion they  can  accomplish  great  things  industrially  and 
commercially;  they  do  remarkably  well  in  the  face  of 
the  disapprobation,  distrust  and  restrictions  of  National 
and  State  authority;  but  the  imagination  fails  to  grasp 
their  ability  to  thrive  if,  in  addition  to  their  natural 
advantages,  they  worked  with  the  same  endorsement 
and    encouragement    as    that    freely    given    by    other 

•December,   1913 


LETTERS    TO   MY    SON 

countries  to  their  industries.  It  is  a  fact  that  there  is 
not  a  civiHzed  country  in  the  world  wherein  there 
exist  such  handicaps  to  industry  imposed  by  legislation 
as  those  in  the  United  States,  or  where  the  spirit  of 
hostility  to  industrial  success  shown  in  the  attitude 
of  the  governing  bodies  is  so  cowardly,  intense  and 
vindictive.  There  is  very  little  difference  between 
the  tyranny  of  a  small  number  of  private  individuals — 
call  them  trusts  or  any  other  name — and  that  imposed 
by  a  host  of  so-called  public  servants,  State  or  Federal. 
The  rule  of  the  tyrant  is  tyranny,  whether  he  has  one 
head  or  many.  ^     ^     ^     ^ 

What  the  railroads  of  the  country  need  is  a  sane 
and  practicable  treatment  by  the  Government  of 
business  questions.  That  remedy  is  in  a  simple  positive 
statesmanship  that  will  apprise  business  of  its  powers 
and  limitations,  of  what  it  may  do  and  what  it  may 
not  do.  Business  wants  nothing  so  much  as  that  the 
course  of  its  operations  shall  be  clearly  laid  down 
for  it.  Manifestly  regulation  that  regulates,  and  lets 
the  business  men  of  the  country  know  whether  they 
do  right  or  wrong,  is  better  than  suppression  that 
doesn't  suppress,  and  in  addition  keeps  combined 
business  in  perpetual  doubt  as  to  its  rights  and  powers. 
Business  must  be  assured  that  the  law  of  the  land  is 
settled  and  permanent. 

Mr.  James  J.  Hill  has  expressed  the  opinion  that 
the  best  thing  for  American  business  would  be  to 
abolish  Congress  for  ten  years.  There  is  an  immense 
amount  of  wisdom  in  the  suggestion,  for  unquestion- 
ably the  financial,  industrial  and  commercial  develop- 
ment of  the  Nation  is  being  greatly  retarded  by  too 

2J^2 


THE   BIG    FOUR    RAILROAD 

much  legislation,  too  many  sessions  of  Congress,  too 
frequent  meetings  of  State  Legislatures,  too  much 
brow-beating  of  railroads,  and  altogether  too  great  a 
disparity   between   law-making   and   business-making. 

*  *  *  * 
The  danger  of  any  form  of  tyranny  comes  from 
the  power  which  it  is  able  to  exercise.  Unjust  govern- 
ments can  be  overturned,  and  employers  are  merely 
the  medium  for  establishing  economic  relations  between 
the  laborers  they  employ  and  the  public  they  serve. 
The  power  of  both  is,  therefore,  necessarily  limited, 
but  the  power  of  labor  itself  is  practically  without 
limits.*  Men  can  live  without  governments  or  without 
employers,  but  they  cannot  live  without  labor.  When 
this  stupendous  power  is  devoted  to  evil  purposes,  the 
result  is  tyranny  compared  to  which  the  acts  of  the 
great  autocrats  of  history  seem  trivial.  Tyranny  is 
none  the  less  odious  when  it  doffs  the  royal  ermine 
and  dons  the  garb  of  the  people.  Certain  combinations 
of  men  have  the  power  to  hold  up  vast  systems  of 
transportation,  disturb  the  business  of  the  whole 
country,  and  put  towns  and  cities  in  a  state  of  siege 
for  their  daily  supplies.  Let  the  demands  be  just  or 
unjust,  the  fact  remains  that  here  is  a  power,  certainly 
available  for  undesired  ends,  the  like  of  which  is  not 
wielded  by  any  employer  in  the  world,  and  which 
makes  the  constitutional  power  of  our  government 
insignificant  by  comparison.  In  point  of  fact  labor 
holds  the  position  of  perpetual  plaintiff  and  the 
employer  the  position  of  perpetual  defendant.  It  is  a 
one-sided    situation,    as    the    results    of    our    so-called 

•The  Chief  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Engineers  declares:  "I  have  more  power  than 
any  one  man  in  the  world.     In  fact  I  have  so  much  power  I  am  afraid  of  it." 

2Jt3 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

arbitration  of  wage-scale  disputes  have  abundantly 
proved.  The  labor  attitude  is,  "heads  I  win,  tails 
you  lose." 

The  remedy  is  not  in  Congress,  but  happily  govern- 
ments, while  they  may  work  hardships  in  the  established 
order  of  industry,  cannot  enact  or  repeal  economic 
laws.  These  are  inexorable  laws.  These  are  silent 
forces  that  move  in  the  industrial  channels  of  least 
resistance,  and  neither  employer  nor  worker  can 
change  them.  You  can  kill  people  who  are  engaged 
in  business,  you  can  destroy  business  utterly,  but  you 
cannot  stop  those  economic  and  natural  laws.  A 
railroad  is  as  much  subject  to  economic  law  as  the 
corner  grocer,  it  cannot  spend  more  than  it  earns  any 
more  than  an  individual  can,  and  when  circumstances 
are  forced  upon  it  that  it  must,  then  very  soon  it 
would  stop,  if  under  its  charter  it  were  lawfully  per- 
mitted to  stop  of  its  own  initiative,  which  it  is  not, 
and  the  arrival  of  railroads  at  the  vanishing  point 
between  income  and  outgo  cannot  be  long  delayed  at 
the  present  rate.  One  of  the  anomalies  about  it  all 
is  that  railroads  are  subjected,  with  the  apparent 
approval  of  the  political  powers  that  be,  to  a  persistent 
demand  for  increased  wages,  but  they  are  not  per- 
mitted to  raise  rates.  It  is  plain  that  wages  cannot 
be  increased  unless  the  income  out  of  which  wages 
are  paid  is  also  increased,  and  it  is  about  time,  therefore, 
for  labor  to  realize  that  it  is  not  the  railroads  themselves, 
but  the  State  Railroad  and  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commissions  with  which  their  struggle  for  higher 
wages  ultimately  lies.  There  has  been  no  stop  to  the 
increase  of  operating  cost  partly  by  legislative  power, 

2U 


THE    BIG    FOUR    RAILROAD 

and  partly  by  public  opinion  not  less  coercive  and 
deadly.  ^     ^     ^     ^ 

The  constitution  of  labor  unions  was  at  the  begin- 
ning bitterly  contested  by  men  (I  confess  to  being  one 
of  them)  who  now,  in  theory  at  least,  acknowledge  the 
validity  of  their  principles.  And,  however  wise  it  may 
seem  that  this  hostility  should  have  given  way  in  time, 
it  does  not  follow  that  the  initial  check  was  unsalutory, 
nor  is  the  surrender  an  argument  of  inconsistency.  For 
it  should  be  pretty  clear  to  any  one  who  reads  history 
that  a  new  power  of  this  sort,  if  without  opposition, 
it  were  exercised  by  men  with  no  discipline  of  expe- 
rience, would  have  been  subject  to  great  abuses.  The 
injustice  and  impracticability  of  many  schemes  of 
the  unions  today,  after  years  of  training,  show  what 
they  might  have  done  to  hamper  prosperity  and  retard 
progress  had  they  been  encouraged  to  organize  freely 
under  the  first  wild  compunctions  of  injustice. 

*  *     *     * 

Never  be  afraid  to  change  your  mind.  The  man 
who  under  the  influence  of  more  light  changes  his 
point  of  view  will  see  more  and  see  it  more  clearly, 
than  one  who  obstinately  assumes  an  attitude,  no 
matter  how  correct  and  exalted  it  may  be,  and  declines 
to  modify  it  in  the  face  of  new  and  convincing  evidence. 

*  *     *     * 

How  much  further  are  the  demands  of  labor  to  be 
carried?  This  is  a  difficult  question  to  answer,  but  it 
is  not  difficult  to  put  yourself  on  the  other  side  of  the 
question,  and  to  see  that  working  men  all  the  world 
over  as  their  labor  grows  yearly  more  mechanical,  grow 
yearly   more   discontented,   more  sick  of  the   smooth 

2Jf5 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

deadly  grinding  of  the  mill  that,  as  they  think,  brings 
in  too  little  grist  for  themselves;  more  determined  to 
convert  political  power  into  higher  wages,  better 
houses,  more  food,  and  an  ampler  life;  more  determined 
that  an  increasing  share  of  the  products  of  labor  shall 
go  to  labor.  This  unrest  will  go  on,  keeping  pace  with 
the  growth  of  knowledge  and  self -consciousness,  with 
the  restlessness  and  impatience  of  the  age,  with  the 
rise  in  the  price  of  living,  with  the  progressive  occupa- 
tion of  the  industrial  field  by  consolidations  and 
combinations  of  capital  whose  profits  are  known  to  all, 
and  whose  operations  are  believed^  rightly  or  wrongly,  by 
them  to  hinder  the  employees'  chance  of  rising  to 
independence  and  prosperity.  Few  thoughtful  men 
will  deny  that  mankind  is  growing  more  dissatisfied 
as  our  power  over  natural  resources  is  extended. 
Each  age  has  its  standard  of  living,  and  each  successive 
standard  is  higher.  In  ancient  times  when  a  man  was 
fed  and  clothed  and  protected  from  the  elements,  he 
worked  no  more.  The  living  wage  was  just  enough  to 
sustain  life  in  a  man  and  his  family.  That  is  the  origin 
of  the  standard  of  living  which  lies  at  the  basis  of  the 
commerce  of  succeeding  ages.  Industry  and  trade 
organized  themselves  on  this  basis  to  provide  for 
simple  wants  and  no  more.  There  were  degrees  of 
want  and  degrees  of  effort,  but  there  was  no  attempt 
at  a  surplus.  Crops  could  not  be  sold,  or  stored  or 
transported.  When  there  were  goods  enough  for  life, 
work  stopped.  There  was  no  thought  of  production 
for  profit. 

The   introduction    of    money* — the   greed  for  gold 
with  the  facilities  for  exchange  altered  all  this,  and  is 

•John  Stuart  Mill. 

2J^6 


THE    BIG    FOUR    RAILROAD 

the  root  of  existing  conditions.  Gold  could  be  hoarded 
and  carried,  and  supplied  all  things  by  exchange. 
When  that  was  discovered,  production  for  use  and 
consumption  passed  into  production  for  exchange  and 
profit,  and  trading  was  the  result.  Thus  we  see  that 
the  union  of  the  greed  of  gold  with  the  spirit  of  enter- 
prise made  the  modern  capitalist,  and  at  this  point 
the  unrest  of  the  worker  came  into  being  and  it  has 
gone  on.  That  is  the  situation  as  I  see  it,  and  it  will 
continue  to  go  on.  How  to  distribute  wealth  more 
equitably,  how  to  make  the  lives  of  the  ninety  and  nine 
more  free  and  spacious,  brighter  and  less  precarious — 
that  is  the  problem  of  the  modern  world  and  time  alone 
can  solve  it,  and  the  solution  will  be  a  matter  of  growth 
and  not  of  achievement.  There  are  those  who  think 
that  it  will  be  solved  only  when  men  learn  to  apply 
to  social  and  industrial  issues  the  profound  truth  of 
Tolstoi's  dictum: 

"We  constantly  think  that  there  are  circum- 
stances in  which  a  human  being  can  be  treated 
without  affection,  and  there  are  no  such  circum- 
stances." 

Take  hope  and  aspiration  from  the  heart  of  man, 
and  you  make  him  a  beast  of  prey.  Napoleon  under- 
stood this.  He  knew  the  power  of  the  masses  when 
unbridled  and  he  feared  that  power  and  no  other,  and 
he  never  dared  to  rouse  the  slumbering  lion.  He  had 
been  an  onlooker  in  1789.  It  is  that  fatal  blindness 
to  the  real  conditions  which  circumscribe  human  Jife 
that  was  responsible  for  the  wild  theories  of  the  French 
Revolution  and  many  of  its  consequent  excesses. 

You  will  note  that  all  through  my  talks  to  the 
young  engineers  in  the  University  of  Kentucky  the 

2^7 


LETTERS    TO   MY    SON 

burden  of  my  message  to  them,  in  season  and  out  of 
season,  has  been  to  study  and  understand  human 
nature.  Men  are  more  important,  more  interesting 
and  more  rewarding  subjects  of  study  than  things, 
for  nature  is  stronger  than  education.  If  you  were  to 
ask  me  what  one  factor  more  than  any  other  originated 
and  brought  about  the  existing  labor  condition,  I 
would  frankly  tell  you  that  it  was  the  ignorance  and 
brutality  of  the  men  in  charge  of  the  employees — 
men  who  realized  nothing  of  the  force  of  the  human 
affections.  One  of  the  cruellest  sins,  in  giving  petty 
and  tyrannous  authority  into  petty  and  tyrannous 
hands  is  that  it  thus  brings  into  hatred  and  disgust 
the  true  and  high  authority  of  moral  law. 

*     *     *     * 

But  even  as  the  railroad  official  of  a  generation  ago 
used  his  power  unwisely,  so  has  the  labor  leader  of 
today  pushed,  or  been  impelled  by  the  forces  behind 
him  to  push  the  power  which  organization  gives  him 
to  extremes — practically  to  the  extent,  if  not  of  killing, 
certainly  of  exhausting  the  goose  which  lays  the 
golden  eggs.  He  has  overplayed  his  hand.  This  has 
been  done,  not  altogether  nor  even  primarily,  by  exorbi- 
tant and  repeated  demands  for  increased  wages,  but 
by  tyrannous  and  frequently  unreasonable  legislation 
which  the  political  representatives  of  labor  organiza- 
tions have  been  able  to  force  into  the  statute  books, 
both  State  and  Federal.  It  is  not  to  the  advantage  of 
the  whole  people  that  the  operation  of  railroads  should 
be  harassed  and  hampered  by  politicians  merely  for 
political  capital.  The  people  cannot  prosper  without 
the  railroads.  The  railroads  cannot  prosper  without 
the  people.     It  is  no  more  possible  for  the  manufac- 

U8 


THE    BIG    FOUR    RAILROAD 

turer  to  prosper  without  the  railroads  than  for  the 
railroads  to  prosper  without  the  manufacturer.  Their 
fortunes  as  a  whole  are  inseparable.  The  obvious 
proposition,  therefore,  and  it  is  quite  elementary,  is 
that  the  interests  of  labor  are  inextricably  bound  up 
with  the  interests  of  capital  and  that  unless  they  work 
together  neither  can  thrive. 

It  has  long  been  accepted,  or  at  least  asserted,  that 
labor  gets  one-fifth  the  value  of  manufactured  products 
and  capital  four-fifths.  This  statement  will  not  hold 
water  because  it  is  based  on  the  assumption  that  the 
gross  revenue  of  a  railroad  or  manufacturing  industry 
is  the  measure  of  the  wealth  produced.  This  is  quite 
misleading.  Out  of  his  four-fifths  the  manufacturer 
must  provide  raw  material.  What  does  raw  material 
represent.f^  Mr.  William  McConway*  answered  this 
question  by  saying  that  when  the  particular  line  of 
steel  in  which  he  was  interested  reached  the  market 
its  average  value  approximated  sixty  dollars  per  ton. 
The  material  entering  into  the  production  of  that  ton 
when  in  the  ground  costs  about  three  dollars.  All  the 
rest  is  wages,  and  a  very  moderate  return  for  capital, 
when  capital  gets  it.  The  manufacturer  must  also 
meet  rent,  taxes,  depreciation,  insurance,  advertising 
and  all  the  other  items  which  are  known  generally  as 
"overhead."  If  an  accurate  census  could  be  taken  of 
the  amount  of  wages  paid  in  the  United  States  it  would 
beyond  question  show  a  total  infinitely  in  excess  of 
the  amount  of  profits  and  interest  earned  by  capital. 
In  addition  thereto  the  share  of  labor  is  assured.  It  is 
a  preferred  claim.  You  can  "pass"  a  dividend  but 
you  cannot  "pass"  wages  and  taxes. 

*The  bonored  head  of  the  McConway  Torley  Co.  of  Pittsburgh. 

2J^9 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

Public  sentiment  will  change.  Even  now  the 
pendulum  has  begun  to  swing  the  other  way.  The 
power  of  organized  labor  is  forcing  another  power  into 
action.  The  money  power  of  the  world  is  being  organ- 
ized, is  being  forced  to  organize.  Business  men 
nationally  and  internationally  are  drawing  together. 

*     *     *     * 

The  weak  spot  in  the  armor  of  labor  organizations 
is  that  they  are  not  responsible.  If  they  break  an 
agreement,  the  party  of  the  other  part  has  no  redress. 
If  a  railroad  or  a  manufacturer  breaks  a  labor  agree- 
ment, he  is  immediately  confronted  with  a  stoppage 
of  operations.  This  is  a  phase  of  the  world-labor 
issue  which  its  leaders  persistently  ignore.  Labor 
unions  do  not  take  themselves  and  their  relations  to 
the  world  of  industry  seriously.  They  forget  the  public. 
They  are  not  responsible;  they  forget  that  men  are 
successful  just  in  the  degree  that  they  are  responsible. 
Business  men  who  are  not  responsible  are  immediately 
ejected  from  the  business  world,  and  what  is  sauce 
for  the  goose  must  be  sauce  for  the  gander. 

The  banker,  the  railroad  president  must  be 
responsible,  he  must  carry  out  his  contracts;  but  the 
president  of  a  labor  order  does  not  so  regard,  or  is 
not  always  permitted  to  so  regard  his  contracts,  there- 
fore he  is  not  responsible.  This  in  effect  amounts  to 
the  right  of  a  favored  class  to  break  the  law.  Let  a 
capitalist  cause  damage  to  your  pocket  or  your  person, 
and  you  can  reach  him  through  the  courts  and  compel 
him  to  make  good  to  you  as  much  of  the  injury  as  can 
be  estimated  in  dollars  and  cents;  but  from  the  wage 
earner   who   has   no   assets   subject   to   levy   you   are 

250 


THE    BIG    FOUR    RAILROAD 

unprotected,  except  by  his  realization  of  his  duty  and 
his  desire  to  do  it.  There  is  much  need  to  get  together 
on  this  point  and  great  room  for  it  and  inteUigent 
labor  leaders  owe  to  themselves  the  duty  of  taking  it 

under  the  most  grave  consideration. 

*  *     *     * 

The  innocent  holder  of  bonds  and  stocks,  if  our 
government  is  to  mean  anything,  has  plainly  some 
rights  which  neither  side  can  honestly  afford  to  dis- 
regard. That  is  the  proposition.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  the  public  is  the  silent  and  suffering  partner  in 
most  industrial  disputes.  A  railroad  has  no  money  of 
its  own.  Its  officers  are  merely  trustees  for  the  stock- 
holders. The  president  of  a  railroad  is  elected  to  do 
certain  things.  A  railroad  conductor  is  employed  to 
do  certain  things,  and  it  is  begging  the  question  to 
point  to  bad  railway  financing,  to  excessive  or  even 
fraudulent,  if  you  please,  bond  or  stock  issues  of  the 
past.  Some  railroad  directors  may  have  been  in  on 
stock  deals;  some  conductors  may  have  been  in  on 
cash  fares.  But  the  vital  point  that  the  investor  must 
be  protected,  and  can  only  be  protected  by  responsible 

people  still  remains. 

*  *     *     * 

Take  the  insistence  of  that  once  conservative  body, 
the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Engineers,  on  the 
seniority  rule.  If  the  name  of  an  engineman  appears 
at  the  head  of  a  service  list,  his  eyesight  may  be  dimmed, 
his  hearing  affected,  his  judgment  impaired,  but  he 
must  be  chosen  in  preference  to  a  better  qualified  man 
who  has  been  a  less  time  in  the  service.  No  law  of 
morals  or  equity  can  sustain  that  attitude. 

251 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

There  can  be  no  escape  from  the  fact  that  labor 
owes  a  duty  to  society  no  less  than  does  capital.  In 
the  heat  of  the  argument  against  trusts  and  combina- 
tions, labor's  responsibilities  seem  to  be  forgotten. 
The  responsibilities  of  labor  to  the  public,  the  investing 
public  who  furnish  the  sinews  of  war,  are  quite  as 
large  and  vital  as  those  of  the  bankers  and  railroad 
and  industrial  presidents  who  represent  the  investor. 
They  realize  that  the  welfare  of  the  country  depends 
on  universal  steady  productive  labor  fairly  paid  for; 
but  the  unions,  as  at  present  constituted,  hold  that 
the  less  one  works  the  better,  with  an  utter  disregard 
of  the  interests  of  the  owners  of  the  property  or  of  any 
third  party  with  whom  the  employer  may  have  con- 
tracts yet  unfulfilled. 

*     *     *     * 

Every  business  man  sees  that  the  control  of  the 
world's  political  and  social  power  and  the  redistribution 
of  the  world's  possessions  and  opportunities  are  being 
fought  for  in  every  civilized  country.  He  sees  that  the 
present  economic  order  pits  producer  against  consumer, 
worker  against  employer,  and  that  our  social  order 
suffers  from  many  other  serious  defects.  The  spokes- 
men of  labor  without  being  able,  in  a  large  way,  to 
clearly  or  definitely  formulate  their  demands,  are 
asking  insistently  for  a  redistribution  of  money,  oppor- 
tunity, privilege  and  power.  They  see  vast  sums  of 
money  withdrawn  year  after  year  from  the  service  of 
social  reform  and  they  raise  a  protest.     They  say: 

"If  you  have  this  money,  which  after  all  is 
largely  our  money,  to  spend,  spend  it  on  us.  Make 
the  Hves  of  the  ninety  and  nine  more  spacious  and 
comfortable.    Give  us  more  of  the  leisure  and  the 

252 


THE    BIG    FOUR    RAILROAD 

amenities  that  have  hitherto  been  reserved  only 
for  an  insignificant  fraction  of  mankind.  'Social 
Justice,'  they  say,  'should  come  first.  Law  is  the 
machinery  for  its  realization  and  is  vital  only  as  it 
expresses  and  embodies  it.' " 

They  assert  that  no  policy  which  holds  the  rights 

of  property  superior  to  those  of  the  rights  of  the  great 

mass  of  laboring  humanity  can  be  just,  and  it  is  well 

to  recognize  that  these  two  principles  have  stood  face 

to  face  from  the  beginning  of  time  and  they  will  ever 

so  continue — the  strong  man's  craving  for  power  and 

the  poor  man's  craving  for  food.      Many  thinking  men 

will  tell  you  that  there  never  can  be  industrial  peace 

until  the  worker  participates  in  the  profits  of  industry 

to  the  extent  that  he  may  enjoy  more  of  the  amenities 

as  well  as  the  necessities  of  life. 

Thus  we  see  that  both  labor  and  capital  have  come 
to  realize  the  slenderness  of  the  barrier  between 
industrial  activity  and  industrial  chaos. 

*     *     *     * 

As  it  appears  today  the  power  of  the  world  is  coming 
into  the  hands  of  the  masses,  into  the  hands  of  our 
employees.  They  outnumber  us  fifty  or  a  hundred  to 
one,  and  therefore  this  new  power  of  the  masses  would 
portend  loss  of  power  to  us,  were  it  not  for  the  fact 
that  this  new  power  of  the  masses  must,  in  turn,  also 
have  leadership — responsible  leadership.  We  must 
have  leaders.  Someone  must  lead  in  popular  matters. 
In  nature  we  have  the  bell-wether,  the  queen  bee,  and 
so  in  economics  as  well  as  in  politics  we  must  find  the 
fairest  and  best  mode  of  leading  the  masses  of  the 
people.  In  this  respect  there  could  be  no  nobler  calling 
than  the  pursuit  which  we  call  politics.     No  one  can 

253 


LETTERS    TO    MY   SON 


object  to  a  combination  of  workingmen  formed  for 
the  purpose  of  maintaining  their  rights  and  resisting 
oppression.  On  the  contrary  it  may  be  said  that  the 
fundamental  idea  of  trades  unionism  is  today  almost 
universally  approved.  No  one  objects  to  high  wages 
fairly  earned.  It  is  only  when  they  overstep  this  idea 
that  they  arouse  public  hostiHty.  The  enemies  labor 
unions  have  to  fear  most  are  the  leaders  they  choose 
to  represent  them. 

A  mass  without  wise,  strong  and  capable  leadership 
is  a  mob  doomed  to  defeat,  and  it  will  come  to  be  seen 
that  the  business  men  must  be  the  leaders  of  this  new 
power.  It  is  true  that  it  does  not  at  once  seem  practi- 
cally possible  that  the  masses  of  our  employees  will 
turn  to  us,  their  employers,  for  leadership.  But 
business  men  are  beginning  to  see,  and  our  employees 
are  beginning  to  see,  and  we  shall  both  soon  see  clearly, 
that  most  of  the  questions  and  problems  we  have 
been  fighting  about  are  problems  of  the  trade  and 
the  business — common  problems — whose  best  solution 
is  the  task  of  the  employer  and  employee  working 
together.  We  shall  both  see  that  high  wages  and  good 
profits  are  natural  affinities,  as  are  good  working  condi- 
tions and  successful  business.  The  modern  employer 
has  learned  that  what  used  to  be  termed  humanity 
is  but  good  business;  he  knows  that  he  cannot 
abuse  his  work  people  and  expect  the  best  returns; 
that  the  human  machine  which  is  in  the  best  condition, 
which  depends  not  alone  on  physical  health  but 
genuine  contentment  with  its  work  and  treatment, 
is  the  most  efficient;  he  knows  that  the  human  being 
will  do  only  his  best  work  if  it  is  for  his  own  benefit. 

25J^ 


THE    BIG   FOUR   RAILROAD 

It  is  a  self-evident  truth  that  the  underlying  causes 
of  industrial  unrest  must  be  frankly  recognized  before 
we  can  reach  remedies  which  are  constructive,  and 
both  capital  and  labor  must  abandon  all  selfish  and 
discriminatory  demands  before  peace  resolutions  will 
be  seriously  regarded.  There  is  danger  in  the  type  of 
man  who  would  wreck  anything  for  his  own  benefit. 
Such  men  exist  at  both  extremes — the  employer  who 
would  pay  less  than  the  moral  wage,  and  the  man  who 
would  extort  more  than  the  moral  wage  by  duress. 
Add  to  these  two  classes  looking  for  mercenary  profits, 
the  thousands  of  otherwise  good  citizens  who  fail  from 
ignorance,  or  incapacity  or  indifference  to  public  duty 
to  make  their  influence  felt  on  such  issues.  What  we 
need  is  a  great  amnesty  that  will  insure  a  forgetting 
of  old  misunderstandings.  We  need  confidence  in 
each  other's  actions  and  motives.  We  need  to  abandon 
suspicion  and  distrust.  We  need  a  quickened  public 
opinion,  for  our  salvation  depends  largely  on  public 
opinion.  Than  an  enlightened  public  opinion  there  is 
no  more  mighty  force.  Obnoxious  as  the  newspaper 
reporter  may  sometimes  be  in  his  activities  he  is 
undoubtedly  a  power  for  good.  The  evil  worker,  the 
labor  demagogue,  the  irregular  promoter  and  the  shady 
politician  have  a  wholesome  respect  for  him  because 
he  is  the  medium  by  which  public  opinion  is  directed 
to  tnem.  ^     ^     ^     ^ 

It  will  come  to  be  seen  that  business  men  are  the 
natural  leaders.  It  will  be  found  that  the  principal 
things  that  our  businesses  need,  the  masses  of  our 
employees  need  also.  Good  housing,  good  transporta- 
tion,  good   recreation  facilities,    good   education   that 

S55 


LETTERS    TO   MY   SON 

really  fits  men  for  their  life's  work  and  for  their  living, 
well  governed  cities,  justice  and  security  for  property — 
these  are  the  things  our  employees  need  most,  a;nd  these 
are  the  things  our  railroads  and  our  businesses  need 
most,  if  they  are  not  to  be  taken  over  by  the  Govern- 
ment at  the  behest  of  the  masses  of  our  employees,  or 
if  they  are  not  to  be  stopped  or  killed  by  the  constant 
friction  and  strikes  that  are  always  present  when 
employees  are  badly  housed,  or  badly  prepared  for  life. 
These  are  the  things  they  will  use  their  power  to  get; 
and  to  get  them  they  will  use  us  as  leaders  as  soon  as 
they  recognize  that  our  enlightened  self-interest  wants 
these  things  too.  Industrial  peace  is  bound  to  come. 
It  will  come  when,  and  not  before  both  parties  have 
sufficient  self-interest  to  see  that  their  mutual  interest 
lies  in  getting  together.  Some  means  must  be  found 
for  both  sides  to  get  together,  not  primarily  as  employer 
and  employee  but  as  citizens  of  a  common  country — 
as  a  whole  people  who  desire  peace  and  not  war.  There 
must  be  a  marriage  of  capital  and  labor — there  must 
be  a  get-along-together  spirit  like  a  good  husband  and 
wife  get  along.  Dreams  much  more  fantastic  have 
been  realized.  The  spirit  of  a  nobler  manhood  is 
slowly  possessing  the  heart  of  humanity.  This  is 
idealism  you  will  say  and  quite  possibly  you  may  be 
right,  but  do  not  lose  sight  of  the  cardinal  truth  that 
the  one  path  of  progress  that  most  concerns  our  nation 
is  progress  in  idealism.     We  must  be  prepared  spiritually 

as  well  as  materially. 

*     *     *     * 

Just  when  or  how  this  vision  wull   crystallize  into 
working  shape  and  become  a  basis  for  content  and 

256 


THE    BIG    FOUR    RAILROAD 

further  advancement,  it  would  be  rash  for  me  to  attempt 
to  speculate,  but  I  do  say  that  it  can  only  mean  great 
good.  It  cannot  come  until  the  conflicting  interests 
recognize  that  the  rights  of  others  cannot  be  left  out 
of  consideration,  "a  decent  respect  to  the  opinions  of 
mankind"*  must  be  shown.  It  cannot  come  until  the 
intelligent  and  thoughtful  men  among  the  working 
masses  get  the  simple  fact  clearly  fixed  in  their  minds 
that  a  demagogue  never  filled  a  pay  envelope. 

It  is  unthinkable  that  the  sober-minded,  self- 
respecting  working  men  of  this  country  will  accept  the 
alternative  leadership  offered  by  men  who  declare  that 
there  is  only  one  flag  for  us  and  that  is  the  red  flag — that 
they  would  take  such  a  fatal  step  as  to  join  themselves 
to  any  party  that  does  not  carry  the  flag  and  march  to 
the  music  of  the  Union.  It  would  be  surprising  indeed 
if  they  abandoned  the  ideals  upon  which  this  nation 
was  founded  and  gave  their  consent  to  such  treasonable 
doctrine.  Surely  the  national  spirit  has  not  deserted 
the  masses  of  our  people.  Not  at  all,  that  spirit  is 
here  as  ever  but  it  does  appear  as  if  it  had  been  lulled 
into  sleep  by  the  blandishments  of  false  prophets.  The 
true  American  spirit  is  still  here  and  that  spirit  is  the 
rock  to  smite,  and  at  the  touch  of  the  rod  it  will  yield 
in  inexhaustible  degree  common  sense,  reason,  patriot- 
ism and  progress.  The  spirit  of  American  traditions 
must  be  reawakened  to  expel  false  ideals.  There  must 
be  a  well  defined  line  of  cleavage  between  those  who 
repudiate  all  government  and  denounce  the  flag,  and 
those  who  are  committed  to  the  defense  of  their 
country's  sacred  symbol  and  who  look  in  confidence 
to   it   for   protection   in    working   out    our   industrial 

*The  Declaration  of  Independence. 

257 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

problems.  Any  organization  that  makes  a  cornerstone 
of  the  proposition  that  "labor  is  slavery"  cannot 
permanently  endure  in  this  country.  In  no  other 
place  since  the  world  began  has  labor  been  so  free  and 
so  splendidly  rewarded  as  in  the  United  States. 

Under  the  new  conditions  the  leadership  of  political 
and  social  power  must  go  to  those  accustomed  and 
trained  by  their  daily  work  to  take  the  initiative,  and 
more  important  still  to  those  who  best  understand, 
and  most  practically  sympathize  with  the  new  found 
power  of  the  masses  whose  support  is  fundamentally 
essential  to  a  degree  never  before  realized  in  the 
world's  history.  The  successful  business  man  must 
have  that  understanding.  The  man  of  affairs  in  the 
future  will  evolve  from  the  business  man  of  today  in 
the  same  manner  that  he  was  born,  by  imperceptible 
degrees,  each  of  them  the  result  of  the  step  before, 
and  the  prophetic  factor  of  the  next  step  ahead — able 
responsible  men,*  who  can  win  the  sympathy  and  who 
can  guide  and  lead  large  numbers  of  working  men, 
are  the  ones  who  will  command  the  capital  and  the 
business  opportunities  of  the  world  henceforth  as  the 
new  conditions  evolve. 

So  we  must  organize  for  our  leadership,  and  this 
organization  must  be  thorough  and  inclusive,  must  be 
little  and  big,  must  be  local  and  national  and  inter- 
national. If  business  men  nationally  and  internationally 
can  reach  a  common  understanding  there  is  no  power, 
political  or  social,  that  can  withstand  them,  for  they 

are  responsible. 

*     *     *     * 

•I  could  not  name  two  better  examples  of  the  type  of  man  I  have  in  mind  than  Mr.  C.  M. 
Schwab  and   Mr.  A.   L.   Humphrey. 

258 


THE    BIG    FOUR    RAILROAD 

Let  US  sweep  away  tradition  and  prejudice.  Let 
the  Labor  policy  be  based  on  maximum  not  minimum 
output.  Let  Labor  be  ungrudging  in  output  and 
Capital  ungrudging  in  wages.  The  question  must  be 
solved,  not  preached  at,  and  it  will  be  solved  or  we  must 
confess  ourselves  a  nation  spiritually  bankrupt.  And 
it  will  be  solved  some  day  by  wits  more  weighty  per- 
haps, and  more  nimble  than  mine,  but  we  must  keep 
at  it,  and  nationally  we  must  keep  in  the  front  rank. 
It  is  not  a  flattering  fact  that  in  both  Canada  and 
Austraha  they  are  a  step  ahead  of  us  in  the  solution 
of  this  the  greatest  social  problem  confronting  modern 
times. 


269 


LETTER  XIX 

THE    BIG    FOUR   RAILROAD 
PERSONAL    RECOLLECTIONS 

DURING  my  time  on  the  Big  Four  Railroad  I 
had  many  pleasant  associations.  One  of  my 
friends  of  those  days,  a  man  of  whom  I  have 
the  most  affectionate  and  grateful  recollection,  and 
whose  friendship  I  cherish  as  something  precious,  is 
Mr.  Joseph  Ramsey,*  who  at  the  period  herein  referred 
to  was  general  manager  of  the  road.  No  man  ever 
had  a  purer  heart.  His  rule  of  life  has  been  that  the 
sweetest  happiness  we  ever  know,  the  very  wine  of 
human  life  comes,  not  from  love  but  from  sacrifice — 
from  the  effort  to  make  others  happy. 

*     *     *     * 

Another  of  my  Big  Four  associates  was  old  Joe 
Moses,  previously  referred  to.  He  occupied  a  unique 
position  due  altogether  to  his  own  personality,  a 
position  which  neither  fortune  nor  social  prestige  could 
have  conferred.  He  was  the  sort  of  person  you  respected 
because  he  commanded  your  respect.  He  was  the  sort 
of  person  you  might  have  expected  to  wear  a  tall  silk 
hat  and  quite  possibly  he  never  owned  one.  He  had 
what  some  one  has  called  the  "silk  hat  mind"  and  that 
is  a  very  real  thing,  although  like  many  other  realities 
it  is  not  easy  to  define  in  a  sentence.  Anyhow,  he 
was  always  accurate  and  responsible,  and  everybody 

•Afterward  president,    Wabash    R.    R. 

260 


THE   BIG    FOUR   RAILROAD 

believed  in  him  and  no  one  was  ever  fooled  by  him. 
You  felt  that  he  was  a  wise  old  owl,  but  a  perfectly 
honest  one.  From  the  president  of  the  road  down 
he  was  loved  and  trusted.  No  rule  applied  to  Joe 
Moses,  social  or  otherwise.     He  was  simply  "all  wool 

and  a  vard  wide,"  and  we  were  all  his  friends. 

*  *     *     * 

Joe's  father  was  an  Englishman  by  birth  and  after 
the  legal  period  of  residence  in  Cincinnati  he  had  taken 
out  papers  of  citizenship.  The  first  time  he  went  to 
the  polls  he  was  challenged: 

"You  cannot  vote  here,"  said  the  judge  of  election, 
"you  are  not  naturalized." 

"Not  naturalized!"  said  old  Moses,  "I  am  natural- 
ized, civilized  and  circumcised." 

*  *     *     * 

Politics  are  said  to  have  been  very  corrupt  in  those 
days,  more  so  than  now.    That  is  difficult  to  understand 

for  they  still  smell  to  heaven. 

*  *     *     * 

There  is  another  story  and  it  is  too  good  to  forget. 
Mamma  went  one  afternoon  to  call  on  General  and 
Mrs.  Kilpatrick,  of  Springfield.  They  were  out,  and 
one  of  the  maids  was  sitting  on  the  front  porch  enter- 
taining her  beau.  Mamma  left  cards  and  as  she 
started  to  go  this  pert  maid  said: 

"Mrs.  Gibson  this  is  Mr.  Blank." 

Mamma  halted  for  a  second,  and  said: 

"Oh,  indeed!"        ^     ^j.     ^     ^ 

Mamma  had  a  sewing  woman  when  you  were  little 
and  told  her  among  other  things  she  wanted  some 
pajamas  made  for  you. 

261 


LETTERS    TO   MY    SON 

"Oh  no  ma'am,  no  indeed  ma'am,  I  couldn't  do 
that.     Ftti  no  hand  at  the  cooking T' 

S|C  7|C  SfC  SjC 

We  had  an  assistant  stationmaster  at  Cincinnati, 
Mike  Clark,  a  good-natured,  bright,  efficient  Irishman. 
He  wore  a  full  and  usually  unkempt  beard  which  was 
the  subject  of  many  jokes.  Two  coaches  filled  with 
Federal  prisoners,  bound  for  Columbus  penitentiary, 
were  standing  in  the  station  ready  to  be  attached  to 
an  outgoing  train.  It  was  hot  weather  and  the  coach 
windows  were  open.  One  of  the  prisoners,  seeing  Mike 
hustling  around,  hailed  him.  Mike  approached  the 
coach  and,  looking  up  to  the  man  at  the  open  window, 
asked  what  was  wanted. 

"Say,  Cap,"  said  the  prisoner,  "how  much  would 
you  charge  me  for  a  pipefull  of  them  whiskers.'^" 

^h  'r  <P  'I* 

There  is  a  companion  of  that  period  of  whom  I 
have  the  kindest  recollection.  He  is  now  living  the 
quiet  life  of  a  country  gentleman  in  Virginia.  I  refer 
to  Mr.  Andrew  Stevenson,  an  old  friend.  We  had 
been  on  the  Queen  and  Crescent  in  former  years,  and 
were  on  the  Big  Four  and  afterwards  on  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  together  in  later  years.  At  the  period  of  which 
I  write  he  was  general  agent  of  the  Nickel  Plate  fast 
freight  line,  and  he  was  always  a  welcome  companion 
on  my  frequent  trips  over  the  division.  On  one  of 
these  occasions  we  stopped  at  the  town  of  Mechanics- 
burg,  at  which  the  station  agent  was  one  Mr.  Pat 
Tully,  an  old  and  most  respectable  Irishman,  not  too 
heavily  endowed  with  the  wit  credited  to  his  race. 

Competition  between  the  fast  freight  lines  was 
very  keen,  and  the  routing  of  "unconsigned"  business 

262 


THE    BIG    FOUR    RAILROAD 

was  largely  in  the  hands  of  the  local  agent.  I  intro- 
duced Mr.  Stevenson  to  Tally  and  said  about  the 
Nickel  Plate  line  all  that  official  propriety  and  even 
old  friendship  permitted,  and  perhaps  more — probably 
much  more. 

Whereupon  Mr.  Stevenson,  addressing  Tully,  said: 
"Mr.  Tully,  quite  a  large  quantity  of  wool  originates 
in  your  district  and  some  of  it  is  unconsigned." 

"Oh,  yes  sir,"  said  Tully,  "and  it's  all  unconsigned.'* 

"Now,"  said  Andrew,  smiling,  "suppose  a  farmer 
hauled  in  tomorrow,  fifteen  or  twenty  bales  and  gave 
no  direction,  how  would  you  consign  it.^" 

"Well,"  said  Tully  promptly,  "/  guess  I  would  send 
it  by  Merchants'  Dispatch!" 

4:         *         *         3ic 

We  had  an  engineman,  and  a  good-natured,  fat  old 
Irishman*  he  was,  Mike  Ranehan.  He  was  on  a  local 
freight  and  it  happened  that  I  had  reason  to  investigate 
what  looked  like  needless  delays  in  getting  over  the 
road.  It  developed  that  there  was  so  much  to  do  at 
this  place,  and  so  much  at  that  place  and  so  much  at 
the  other.  But  the  conductor  hesitated  about  the  delay 
at  a  given  place,  saying  he  had  rather  Mike  would 
explain  that.  Turning  to  Mike,  the  trainmaster, 
Tom  English,  as  good  a  soul  as  ever  drew  breath,  now 
a  comfortable,  well-to-do  ranchman  in  California, 
said:  "Ranehan,  what  have  you  got  to  offer .5^" 

"Well,"  drawled  Mike,  "when  we  get  there  it's 
usually  about  9:30,  and  by  that  time  I  need  a  little 
something  to  stay  my  stomach.  So  I  go  over  to  a 
house  near  the  station  and  get  a  little  bite  to  eat — 

*Note  the  number  of  Irishmen.  They  were  mostly  of  the  second  crop  and  their  fathers  had 
been  employed  in  the  construction  of  the  railroad. 


LETTERS   TO    MY   SON 

about  a  dozen  soft-boiled  eggs  in  a  celery  glass,  and 
some  bread  and  a  few  quarts  of  buttermilk,  and  it 
sort  of  keeps  me  going  until  lunch  time,  but  that  is 
the  only  delay  I'm  responsible  for!"  I  have  since  been 
told  Ranehan  is  dead.    John  Barleycorn  can  prove  an 

alibi  in  his  case,  but  God  forgive  Cadmus. 

*  *     *     * 

At  the  time  I  took  charge  of  the  Cincinnati  Division 
it  was  in  rotten  shape,  as  many  men,  my  good  friend 
Ed  Peck  for  example,  will  well  remember.  By  the 
way  he  is  quite  an  old  friend  of  yours,  for  when  you 
were  a  mere  infant  he  took  you  in  his  arms  from 
your  old  nurse  who  nearly  had  a  fit,  and  set  you  down 
at  the  dispatcher's  table  where  he  was  working,  and 
if  you  should  ever  develop  into  a  railroad  man  it  will 
do  you  no  harm  to  remember  where  and  when  you  got 
your  start. 

In  November  1891  the  following  appeared  in  a 
Cincinnati  newspaper,  and  you  should  not  have  great 
difficulty  in  recognizing  yourself. 

BULLY  FOR  BILLY 
For  many  years  it  has  been  the  vest-pocket 
ambition  of  Superintendent  Billy  Gibson  of  the  Big 
Four,  to  own  a  red-headed  boy  in  fee  simple.  On 
Saturday  last  his  urgent  desire  was  granted.  The 
young  gentleman  is,  at  present,  exceedingly  bald, 
but  everything  indicates  that  before  long  he  will  have 
the  most  intense  auburn  head  that  ever  auburned. 
We  congratulate — that  is  to  say,  we  rejoice  with — 
William  on  his  well-earned  success.  The  heir — 
now  quite  apparent — will  in  all  probability  be 
named  William  Robert  Burns  Joseph  Moses  Gib- 
son. The  latest  bulletin  says  that  Billy  and  the 
boy  are  bully,  and  that  the  happy  father  is  doing 
as  well  as  could  be  expected  under  the  circum- 
stances. 

*  *      *      * 

364 


^'"njii 


¥ 


THE  HEIR  — NOW  QUITE  APPARENT 


THE    BIG    FOUR   RAILROAD 

About  this  time  we  had  a  switchmen's  strike  in 
Springfield  yard,  and  like  most  troubles  of  its  kind  in 
those  days  it  was  brought  about  by  the  activity  of 
one  agitator,  and  I  was  kept  fully  advised  as  to  what 
was  going  on  in  their  "division  room."  Grievance 
after  grievance  was  presented  and  finally  they  handed 
out  their  real  demand  to  the  effect  that  they  would 
not  work  any  longer  under  the  General  Yardmaster, 
John  C.  Carney — that  he  was  "crowding"  them  all 
the  time  and,  in  short,  that  he  was  a  tyrant.  I  told 
them  that  Mr.  Carney  had  been  on  the  road  all  his 
life,  and  his  father  before  him,  and  that  their  propo- 
sition could  not  be  considered  and  that  I  would  not 
discuss  it.  We  thought  that  would  be  the  last  of  it 
but  it  was  not.  They  went  out  at  noon  the  follow- 
ing day. 

The  trouble  dragged  along,  and  Mr.  Van  Winkle, 
the  general  superintendent,  appeared  on  the  scene.  He 
went  on  to  say  that  the  New  York  people  were  after 
the  president,  Mr.  Ingalls,  and  that  he  had  no  choice  in 
the  matter  and  that  peace  must  be  patched  up  at  any 
price  and  at  once.  I  said,  "Mr.  Van,  do  you  mean 
that  I  must  discharge  Carney.'*"  He  said,  "Yes,  that 
is  exactly  what  my  orders  are,  and  I  think  just  as 
much  of  Carney  as  you  do  and  I  have  known  him  longer, 
and  I  agree  with  you,  but  there  are  my  orders."  That 
broke  my  heart,  and  I  said,  "Mr.  Van,  if  we  surrender 
to  these  people  and  discharge  Carney,  my  successor 
will  have  to  do  it,  I  could  not." 

Mr.  Ingalls  had  an  old-fashioned  notion  that  when 
anything  went  wrong  no  cure  could  be  quite  complete 
unless  somebody  was  discharged.    Like  so  many  rail- 

S65 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

road  men  of  the  period  he  never  figured  on  the  cost 
in  time  and  money  and  moral  effect  of  reckless  hiring 
and  firing.  No  human  mind  can  grasp  the  awful  price 
railroads  have  paid  for  that  single  phase  of  human 
short-sightedness. 

Mr.  Van  Winkle  left  Springfield  that  day  and  most 
generously  left  the  question  in  statu  quo,  and  it  would 
have  hurt  him  to  give  in.  I  knew  where  he  stood,  but 
I  did  not  know  where  Mr.  Ingalls  stood;  nobody  ever 
knew  that  on  a  question  of  policy;  he  was  not  a  com- 
municative person.  But  almost  providentially  the 
switchmen  sent  a  representative  to  me  that  same 
afternoon  to  ask  if  I  would  receive  a  committee — that 
they  wished  to  make  a  proposition  to  call  off  the  strike. 
To  this  I  replied  that  I  would  meet  them  provided  the 
proposition  was  to  call  off  the  strike  unconditionally. 
This  was  agreed  to  and  the  affair  was  ended. 

*     *     *     * 

That  was  a  turning-point  in  my  life,  as  there  was 
no  alternative  but  to  stick  to  my  guns.  Every  man 
on  the  division  was  watching  the  issue  and  there  was 
no  middle  ground  for  me,  but  this  can  be  recorded 
that  there  has  been  no  strike  in  that  yard  since,  not 
even  in  1894,  the  Debs  year,  and  that  John  Carney  is 
general  yardmaster  there  to  this  present  day.*  It 
is  experiences  like  this  that  try  men  out.  After  all  it 
is  trials  that  make  men,  even  as  the  northern  blast 
lashes  men  into  Vikings. 


^t)'- 


The  loyal  support  I  got  from  English  and  Peckf 
through  that  trying  time  is  beyond  all  praise,  and  when 

•1913 

tMr.  Peck  is  now  general  superintendent,  B.  &  O.  R.  R.,  Pittsburgh. 

266 


THE    BIG    FOUR    RAILROAD 

I  left  the  road  it  was  no  small  gratification  to  me  to 
see  English  appointed  my  successor. 

*     *     *     * 

During  the  strike  of  the  American  Railway  Union 
in   1894,   better   known   as  the   Debs   strike,   because 
Eugene  V.  Debs  was  its  president,  the  representative 
of  the  union  in  charge  of  the  strike  in  the  Cincinnati 
district   was   one   Phelan.     This   man   was   a   violent 
agitator,   and  not  content  with  urging  employees  in 
their  meeting  hall  to  leave  the  service,  he  harangued 
groups  of  them  in  the  yards  and  on  the  streets  to  carry 
on  a  campaign  of  violence,  and  to  defy  the  police  when 
the  latter  interfered  with  these  unlawful  gatherings. 
.  Peaceful  requests  and  warnings  were  of  no  avail  and 
it  was  decided  to  appeal  to  the  Federal  Court  for  an 
order  restraining  Phelan  and  others  from  attempting 
to  disturb  the  peace — in  other  words  an  injunction. 
The  application  was  made  by  Mr.  C.  E.  Schaff*  then 
assistant   general  manager,  representing  the  railroad, 
and  I  was  one  of  the  principal  witnesses.    Judge  W.  H. 
Taft   heard   the   evidence   and   promptly   caused   the 
injunction  to  be  issued.    Phelan,  however,  disregarded 
the  order  of  the  court  and  was  immediately  arrested 
and  locked  up.     This  I  believe  was  one  of  the  earliest 
uses  of  the  injunction  in  connection  with  labor  agita- 
tion and  it  had  a  most  wholesome  effect,  although  it 
brought  down  the  wrath  of  organized  labor  on  Mr. 
Taft's  head,  and  it  was  to  answer  his  critics  in  this 
connection  that  he  delivered  his  splendid  and  spirited 
speech  in  1907  before  a  mass  meeting  of  the  railroad 
labor  unions  in  Chicago.     This  speech  I  have  already 
commented  on.  ^     ^     ^     ^ 

*Now  president  M.  X.  &  T.  Railroad. 

267 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

In  the  earlier  days,  before  the  consoUdation  in  1888, 
Mr.  Ingalls  had  operated  the  original  property  in  a 
"one  man  power"  way,  and  for  a  long  period  of  years 
prior  to  that  time  his  immediate  personal  staff  did  not 
consist  of  especially  brilliant  men — indeed  such  men 
were  not  necessary,  and  in  any  case  the  system  was 
not  calculated  to  develop  men.  Men  are  developed 
by  placing  responsibility  upon  them.  So  it  came  to 
pass  when  the  Big  Four  system  evolved,  Mr.  Ingalls 
found  it  necessary  to  invite  to  his  aid  men  of  knowledge 
and  experience  from  other  roads,  and  the  most  con- 
spicuous of  them  were  Mr.  Oscar  G.  Murray  and  Mr. 
Joseph  Ramsey.  There  can  be  no  question  that  Mr. 
Ingalls  was  arbitrary  and  not  an  easy  person  for  any 
one  to  get  along  with.  Perhaps  one  exception  to  this 
rule,  and  he  was  a  striking  exception,  was  Mr.  C.  E. 
Schaff.  He  listened  to  Schaff  and  kept  his  hands  off 
to  an  extent  he  did  with  no  one  else.  Mr.  Ingalls  was 
in  Europe  during  the  Debs  strike  of  1894,  which  all 
concerned  thought  was  a  blessing,  and  Schaff  handled 
a  difficult  situation  in  a  masterly  manner,  and  this 
would  have  been  quite  impossible  had  he  been  inter- 
fered with. 

Mr.  Ingalls  was  native  of  Maine,  a  graduate  of 
Harvard  and  a  member  of  the  bar.  He  spent  practically 
all  of  his  life  in  Cincinnati  and  it  would  be  difficult  to 
name  any  of  his  contemporaries  who  did  anything  like 
as  much  for  the  material  growth  of  the  community  as 
he  did,  with  the  one  possible  exception  of  Mr.  E.  A. 
Ferguson,  who  projected  the  Cincinnati  Southern 
Railway  and  saw  it  into  successful  operation.  Mr. 
Ingalls  built  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Railroad  into 

268 


MR.   C    E.   SCHAFF 


THE    BIG    FOUR    RAILROAD 

Cincinnati,  and  the  amalgamation  of  the  railroads 
which  now  constitute  the  Big  Four  system  was  the 
result  of  his  imagination  and  achievement. 

Officially  my  relations  with  Mr.  Ingalls  were  always 
cordial  and  sympathetic  and  personally  agreeable.  He 
actively  interested  himself  in  the  educational,  musical 
and  artistic  uplift  of  the  people  of  his  adopted  city. 

After  Mr.  Taft  had  retired  from  the  White  House 

to  private  life  I  happened  to  spend  an  afternoon  with 

him    on    the    Pennsylvania    limited,    and    he    seemed 

greatly  interested  in  talking  over  those  exciting  days 

and  other  days  in  Cincinnati.     He  spoke  most  kindly 

of    Mr.    Murray    and    Mr.    Schaff    and     particularly 

enquired  about  "that  little  boy."   When  I  told  him  you 

were  at  Harvard  Law  School  he  remarked  that  you 

"couldn't  do  better." 

*     *     *     * 

One  of  the  characters  of  Springfield,  Ohio,  where 
my  office  was  then  located,  was  Mr.  John  Kinnan,  the 
merchant  prince  of  the  town,  and  he  was  a  witty, 
whole-souled,  generous  Irishman.  He  took  me  to  a 
wake  one  night  and  the  house  was  very  much  crowded. 
He  seemed  to  know  everybody  present.  Addressing 
one  fat  old  Irishwoman  who  was  standing,  he  said: 

"I'm  afraid  you  will  get  tired  with  nothing  to  sit  on." 

"Ah,  indade,"  said  the  lady,  "I've  plenty  to  sit  on, 
hut  noiohere  to  put  it.'' 

4:         *         *         * 

Father  Murphy,  a  good  old  priest  in  Springfield, 
and  I  were  great  friends,  and  he  was  quite  a  wit. 
Meeting  one  of  our  trainmen  he  said: 

269 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

"Ah,  Brassel,  did  you  go  to  mass  this  morning?" 
"I  did  not." 

"Ah,  is  it  reading  your  Bible  you've  been?" 
"I  have  not." 

"Well,  begob,  if  you  ever  go  to  heaven,  Brassel,  it's 
a  great  laugh  you'll  have  at  us." 

*     *     *     * 

The  following  letters  are  relics  of  the  period: 

The  Cleveland,  Cincinnati,  Chicago  &  St.  Louis  Railroad 

M.  E.  Ingalls,  President 
William  Gibson,  Esq.  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  March  22,  1894. 

Superintendent,  Springfield,  Ohio 
Dear  Sir:     I  have  yours  of  the  21st  and  your  showing  is 
marvellously  good.     It  is  highly  creditable  to  your  divisions. 

Yours  very  truly,  (Signed)  M.  E.  Ingalls. 

The  Cleveland,  Cincinnati,  Chicago  &  St.  Louis  Railroad 

Oscar  G.  Murray,  First  Vice  President 
Mr.  William  Gibson,  Superintendent  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

Springfield,  Ohio 
Dear  Sir :  While  all  of  our  superintendents  and  the  operating 
department  generally,  are  working  very  closely  and  nicely  with 
the  freight  department,  our  traffic  representatives  speak  so 
nicely  about  your  full  and  hearty  co-operation  with  them  and 
the  many  Uttle  things  you  do  unsolicited  to  promote  the  business, 
that  I  want  to  personally  thank  you  for  your  kindness  and  for 
your  efforts  in  our  behalf.  It  is  all  in  the  same  pocket  and  for 
the  same  cause,  but  I  feel  you  have  done  a  great  many  things 
that  were  not  absolutely  called  for  by  your  official  position,  and 
it  is  a  great  pleasure  for  me  to  say  to  you  that  they  are  wholly 
and  entirely  appreciated.  I  shall  be  glad  to  reciprocate  whenever 
I  have  the  opportunity.  Yours  very  truly, 

Sept.   26,    1895.  Oscar  G.  Murray. 

Not  the  least  of  Mr.  Murray's  gifts  is  a  keen  sense 
of  humor.  He  has  a  genial  and  charming  personality, 
and  his  kindly  disposition  makes  him  beloved  of  men. 
I  was  with  him  on  the  night  express  leaving  Cincinnati 
on  one  occasion  and  he  looked  at  me  across  the  car 
and  said: 

270 


MR.   M.  E.  INtiALLS 


THE    BIG    FOUR    RAILROAD 

"Bill,  do  you  ever  take  a  drink?" 

"Why,  Mr.  Murray,  I  was  never  known  to  refuse." 

Of  course  the  conventional  thing  would  have  been 

for  me  to  assume  a  Heepian  air  and  tell  a  barefaced 

falsehood.    Anyhow  the  old  man  had  a  hearty  laugh. 

Poor  old  Tillinghast,  who  was  present,  nearly  fell  off 

nis  cnair.  ^     ^     ^^     ^ 

There  is  a  similar  story  of  the  same  period.  Mr. 
Ramsay,  the  general  manager,  sent  for  me  and  asked 
me  to  suggest  a  man  for  a  certain  position  about  to  be- 
come vacant.  Without  hesitation  I  said,"George  Burns." 

"Oh  yes,"  Mr.  Ramsay  said,  'T  know  Burns  and 
he  is  a  splendid  man,  but  doesn't  he  drink  a  little?" 
"Why  no,   Mr.   Ramsay,  he  doesn't  drink  half  as 
much  as  I  do!" 

Burns  was  promptly  appointed. 

*     *     *     * 

The  Mr.  Carney  before  referred  to  was  a  dry 
character.  He  had  the  usual  quiver  full  of  arrows  and 
more  arriving.  Someone  remarked  that  he  had  lost 
count,  a  new  one  seemed  to  be  coming  every  Satur- 
day night. 

Mrs.  Carney  had  advertised  for  a  servant  maid 
and  when  an  applicant  arrived  Carney  was  sitting  on 
the  porch. 

"Is  this  the  Carneys?" 

"Yes,  what  can  we  do  for  you?" 

"I'm  the  maid  that  come  after  the  place  but  I  hear 
you  have  too  many  children." 

"Oh!  don't  let  a  little  thing  like  that  bother  you," 
said  Carney,  "anything  to  suit  you.  We  can  drown 
three  or  four  of  them!" 

271 


LETTER  XX 

LEAVE    CINCINNATI 

WHEN  Mr.  Oscar  G.  Murray,  then  co-receiver 
with  the  Hon.  John  K.  Cowen,  of  the  Balti- 
more and  Ohio  R.  R.  in  1896,  and  Mr.  Wm. 
M.  Greene,  general  manager  for  them  invited  me  to 
Baltimore,  I  was  assigned  to  the  duties  of  assistant 
general  superintendent  at  that  point. 

Before  leaving  Cincinnati  a  few  old  friends  and 
associates  made  me  their  guest  at  dinner,  the  record 
of  which  I  give  as  it  appeared  in  the  newspaper  the 
morning  following: 

The  tribute  that  was  paid  to  William  Gibson  last 
evening  by  his  friends  was  of  the  kind  that  makes  a 
man  believe  that  all  people  in  this  cold  world  are  not 
selfish  or  hard-hearted.  For  a  number  of  years  Billy 
Gibson,  as  superintendent  of  the  Cincinnati  Division 
of  the  Big  Four,  went  quietly  about  his  business, 
making  friends  and  a  reputation  as  a  railroad  man. 
By  and  by,  W.  M.  Greene  was  made  general  manager 
of  the  B.  &  0.,  and  recently  he  called  his  old  aide, 
Billy  Gibson,  to  help  him  restore  the  great  B.  6c  0.  to 
its  pristine  glory  and  proper  place  among  the  trunk  lines. 

It  was  because  Billy  Gibson  was  a  good  fellow  and 
worthy  of  any  man's  friendship  that  he  was  given  a 
farewell  banquet  at  the  Gibson  House  last  evening. 
Fully  eighty  sat  down  to  one  of  the  best  menus  that 
has  been  served  in  this  town  in  many  a  day.    The  table 

272 


LEAVE    CINCINNATI 

was  profusely  decorated  with  flowers  and  the  air  of 
friendship  and  good  cheer  that  prevailed  was  worthy 
an  Easter  morn. 

SAXBY    PRESIDES 

Howard  Saxby  presided  as  toastmaster,  and  after 

the  cigars,  gave  forth  the  following  words: 

It  is  customary  in  Cincinnati  to  appreciate  a  man  thoroughly 
after  he  has  made  up  his  mind  to  move  away. 

We  generally  show  our  regard  on  these  auspicious  occasions 
by  giving  him  something  to  eat  for  a  change. 

This  we  consider  the  thing  to  do,  because  he  can't  ask  us  to 
"eat  up  and  have  another." 

We  assembled  here  tonight  to  bid  Godspeed  to  one  of  the 
best  fellows  it  was  ever  my  good  fortune  to  know.  I  was  both 
glad  and  sorry  when  I  learned  that  our  friend,  Billy  Gibson,  was 
going  to  leave  us.  Glad  that  he  was  going  to  fill  a  more  exalted 
position,  and  sorry  to  lose  one  of  the  very  few  men  whose  friend- 
ship I  really  cherish. 

He  leaves  with  the  good  will  and  best  wishes  of  every  man 
with  whom  he  has  ever  come  in  contact. 

If  he  prefers  oysters  to  Springfield,  why  that  is  his  own 
lookout. 

The  State  of  Ohio  creates  good  men,  and  then  the  other 
States  entice  them  away.  With  McKinley  going  to  the  White 
House,  Senator  Foraker  in  Washington,  and  Billy  Gibson  in 
Baltimore,  we  can  but  thank  God  that  we  have  Joe  Moses  still 
left,  and  the  Lord  knows  how  soon  he  may  get  a  call  to  start  a 
new  railroad  in  Jerusalem. 

Mr.  Gibson's  advancement  is  simply  the  fulfilment  of  the 
Scriptural  words,  "Go  up,  thou  baldhead!" 

We  are  not  going  to  have  any  set  speeches  tonight — all  those 
who  speak  will  stand  up  like  men. 

And  now  all  that  remains  for  me  to  say  is  that  there  is  not  a 
man  here  tonight  who  does  not  offer  you  sincere  congratulations, 
and  while  we  are  more  than  sorry  that  you  are  going  to  leave  us, 
we  only  hope  that  the  new  friends  you  will  make  may  be  as  sincere 
and  true  as  those  you  are  leaving  behind. 

We  have  enjoyed  your  cheerful  company  many  a  time  and 
oft,  many  a  hearty  laugh  have  we  had  together,  and  we  are 
better  for  having  known  you. 

You  will  leave  behind  you  fond  recollections.  You  take  with 
you  every  good  wish  for  your  future  happiness  and  prosperity. 

273 


LETTERS    TO   MY    SON 

We  will  see  you  in  your  Eastern  home  on  our  way  to  Europe 
(during  our  summer  vacations),  knowing  full  well  that  "a 
Scotchman  will  always  shak'  us  by  the  hand  and  gi'  us  a  hearty 
welcome." 

Fill  your  glasses,  boys,  and  join  me  in  drinking  health,  long 
life  and  prosperity  to  Billy  Gibson. 

Amid  great  applause  Mr.  Gibson  arose  and  started 
his  response.  He  plainly  showed  his  emotion  and 
appreciation  of  an  honor  that  any  man  would  be  proud 
of.     He  said: 

GIBSON    CAN    TALK 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen : — It  has  been  remarked  in  this 
city,  of  late  years,  that  each  winter  season  produces  a  greater 
amount  of  after-dinner  speaking  than  the  one  that  went  before  it. 

You  have  no  doubt  noticed  that  no  sooner  are  the  early  frosts 
of  winter  felt,  and  the  leaves  begin  to  fall  from  the  trees,  than 
pearls  of  great  price  begin  to  fall  from  the  lips  of  the  wise  men 
of  the  East  and  North,  and  of  the  West  and  the  South;  yea,  even 
the  wise  men  of  Mt.  Auburn,  Hartwell  and  Clifton.  Whenever  a 
few  of  us  gather  together  for  social,  business  or  political  purposes, 
we  are  sure  to  make  speeches  at  each  other.  Free  silver  may 
come  and  gold  may  go,  but  talking  goes  on  forever.  On  the 
present  occasion,  which  has  been  created  by  your  kindness, 
I  venture  to  express  the  hope,  therefore,  that  no  one  will  suc- 
cumb to  the  weight  of  my  remarks;  indeed  my  inclination  is 
not  in  the  direction  of  talking;  on  the  contrary,  my  breath  is 
completely  taken  away,  and  in  the  presence  of  this  goodly 
company,  I  feel  dumb  as  the  proverbial  Baltimore  oyster. 

Speech  making,  for  a  number  of  years,  has  been  with  me  a 
sort  of  mild  pastime,  but  when  it  comes  to  attempting  a  speech 
under  circumstances  like  the  present,  it  is  quite  a  different 
matter,  and  my  first  impulse  is  to  exclaim  in  the  words  of  "Tiny 
Tim"- — "God  bless  us  every  one,"  and  then  subside  into  silence. 

I  have  always  thought  that  the  greatest  privilege  which  the 
Maker  vouchsafed  to  me  was  to  be  born  a  Scotsman,  and  if  my 
friend  Dr.  Graydon  will  permit  me  I  would  like  to  borrow  a 
remark  he  made  on  a  recent  occasion.  I  wish  to  use  his  words, 
because  I  can  not  furnish  better,  to  make  an  acknowledgment 
which  I  owe  to  my  friends,  and  to  myself,  to  make.  He  said: 
"America  is  a  stepmother  that  takes  as  good  care  of  her  step- 
children as  of  her  own." 

In  my  sojourn  of  nearly  sixteen  years  among  you,  I  have 
learned  to  love  Cincinnati.     I  have  watched  her  growth  in  that 

27Ji 


LEAVE    CINCINNATI 

time,  and  in  my  own  humble  way,  have  endeavored  to  push 
that  growth  along.  I  have  learned  to  love  her  hills  and  her 
suburbs.  I  have  become  familiar  with  her  well-kept  and  well- 
paved  streets,  of  which  my  honored  friend.  Mayor  Caldwell,  is 
so  justly  proud.  I  have  learned  to  look  with  affection  upon  even 
her  soot  and  her  smoke.    To  me  they  are  the  purest  white. 

When  I  come  back  to  visit  my  friends  here,  I  shall  have  the 
greatest  sympathy  with  the  English  sailor,  who  had  been  cruising 
under  the  blue  skies  of  the  Mediterranean  for  three  years.  His 
ship  was  ordered  home,  and  as  they  sailed  up  the  Thames  in  a 
dense  November  fog,  he  exclaimed  to  one  of  his  shipmates, 
"Thank  God,  we  have  got  some  decent  weather  at  last;  no  more 
of  your  damned  blue  skies  for  me." 

LOVES    THE    BIG    FOUR 

I  have  felt  myself  a  part  of  the  Big  Four  Railroad.  Who 
could  be  a  member  of  the  Big  Four  official  family,  as  I  have  been 
since  the  newer  and  greater  Big  Four  has  been  created;  who 
could  follow  that  leader  who  guides  the  destinies  of  the  Big  Four; 
who  could  be  associated  with  him,  in  no  matter  how  humble  a 
capacity,  without  kindling  at  his  example  and  catching  at  least 
a  spark  of  his  enthusiasm  and  his  energy.'^  My  passport  to  Balti- 
more, and  to  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad,  shall  be  that  I  hail 
from  Ohio,  and  that  I  have  served  under  Melville  E.  Ingalls. 

It  is  impossible  for  me  to  look  around  these  tables  without 
feeling  a  retrospect  of  memories  that  almost  throws  a  momentary 
shade  over  the  smiling  face  of  the  future.  I  confess  that  I  felt 
somewhat  nervous  about  entering  a  new  field.  We  have  all  gone 
swimming,  and  every  bather  knows  that  the  first  plunge  of  the 
season  is  an  awkward  affair,  even  if  he  is  not  a  novice,  and  so  it 
is  only  natural  that  I  should  experience  a  certain  timidity  at 
making  a  plunge  into  a  stream  of  new  surroundings  and  new- 
associations.  But  I  go  equipped,  at  least,  with  a  reasonable 
amount  of  native  caution,  seasoned  by  a  dash  of  your  Ohio 
energy.  Between  them  I  venture  to  hope  that  I  shall  not  be  a 
discredit,  either  to  my  new  friends  or  to  the  older  and  tried 
friends  who  now  surround  me  like  a  troop  of  brothers. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  say  it,  for  it  goes  without  saying,  that 
I  regret  to  leave  this  beautiful  city;  that  I  regret  to  leave  my 
friends  and  neighbors;  that  I  regret  to  leave  my  brother  officials, 
with  all  of  whom  my  relations  have  been  so  cordial.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  say  that  I  regret  to  leave  my  men,  to  whose  unwav- 
ering devotion  I  owe  so  much.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  can  say  no 
more — I  could  say  no  less. 

275 


LETTERS    TO    MY   SON 

But  Baltimore  has  its  advantages.  Not  the  least  is  that 
Baltimore  is  in  Maryland  and  Maryland  is  a  State  where  good 
Democrats  do  not  have  to  apologize  for  their  politics.  Baltimore 
is  near  Washington.  If  an  Ohio  man  gets  homesick  in  Baltimore, 
he  can  take  the  B.  &  0.  to  Washington.  He  can  not  make  a 
mistake.  He  will  find  a  brother  Buckeye  holding  office  in  every 
Federal  building. 

As  some  of  my  friends  might  express  it,  I  have  been  "called 
to  a  greater  sphere  of  usefulness."  Man  hungers  not  alone  for 
immortal  manna.  Man  desires  when  he  dies  to  leave  behind 
him  something  more  than  merely  a  good  name;  something  that 
will  not  only  surround  his  deathbed  with  anxious  relations, 
but  which,  when  he  is  no  more,  will  make  everything  which 
belongs  to  him  dear  to  them.  There  is  also  another  benign 
consolation.  The  money  which  he  has  hoarded  and  scraped 
together  will  become  a  golden  ointment  to  the  lacerated  heart 
of  his  disconsolate  widow.  It  may  even  be  the  means  of  destroy- 
ing the  solitude  of  her  fireside  and  of  filling  his  vacant  chair 
with  some  sighing,  sympathizing,  single  gentleman. 

WHY   HE    GOES   AWAY 

I  go  to  Baltimore,  therefore,  in  the  hope  that  I  may  wake 
up  some  morning  and  discover  the  long-delayed  money  bags 
under  my  hitherto  impoverished  pillow. 

As  I  have  said,  I  regret  to  leave  my  friends.  To  particularize 
would  be  to  detain  you  all  night.  But  I  betray  no  secret  when 
I  tell  you  that  among  a  host  of  others,  among  a  host  of  whole- 
souled  men — men  whom  I  am  proud  to  call  friends — I  betray 
no  secret,  when  I  tell  you  that  I  regret  to  leave  Howard  Saxby. 
Not  only  is  Saxby  a  fellow  of  infinite  jest;  not  only  is  he  a  finished 
toastmaster;  he  is  also  a  thirty-third  degree  roastmaster.  But 
he  is  much  more.  He  is  what  neither  money  nor  place  can  create. 
Howard  Saxby  belongs  to  the  old  school.  We  are  told  in  the 
books  something  to  the  effect  that  what  is  worth  having  is  hard 
to  get.  That  is  the  reason,  I  suppose,  that  it  took  me  a  long 
time  to  know  Saxby.  I  did  not  know  him  until  after  many 
introductions.  I  think  it  was  the  sixth  time  of  asking.  You 
see,  we  doubled  the  number  of  banns  for  certainty's  sake.  Then 
after  knowing  him,  I  believe  he  must  have  imitated  Prince  Hal 
with  Falstaff  and  given  me  medicines  to  make  me  love  him. 

Gentlemen,  it  is  not  possible  for  me  to  attempt  to  express, 
even  in  a  feeble  way,  my  deep  sense  of  the  great  kindness  with 
which  you  have  overwhelmed  me.  On  that  point,  I  am  all  heart 
and  no  lips.  I  may  say  that  your  kindness  fills  me  with  a  pride 
which  is  akin  to  the  deepest  humility.     I  thank  you  from  the 

276 


LEAVE    CINCINNATI 

very  bottom  of  my  heart  for  the  kindly  and  graceful,  but  far 
too  generous  compliment  which  you  have  paid  me.  A  thousand 
times  in  one,  I  thank  you. 

A  number  of  letters  of  regret  were  read,  and  the 
following  have  been  preserved: 

The  Wabash  Building 
St.  Louis 
My  dear  Sir: 

It  is  with  sincere  regret  that  I  find  I  will  be  unable  to  attend 
the  dinner  in  honor  of  my  friend  Billy  Gibson. 

I  will  be  with  you  however  in  spirit  if  not  in  the  flesh,  and 
will  rejoice  with  you  and  his  other  friends  in  his  deserved  advance- 
ment. 

I  have  requested  Mr.  Burns  to  say  all  I  might  have  said,  had 
I  been  present  at  the  dinner,  and  I  have  no  doubt  he  will  say  it 
(and  much  more)  better  than  I  could  do  myself. 

Wishing  the  guest  of  the  evening  a  long,  happy  and  pros- 
perous career,  and  all  of  you  a  happy  and  pleasant  time,  I 
remain.  Very  truly  yours, 

To  A.  Telford,  Chairman  J.  Ramsey,  Jr. 

My  dear  Sir: 

It  is  a  matter  of  much  personal  disappointment  that  I 
cannot  be  present  at  the  banquet  to  be  given  in  honor  of  Mr. 
William  Gibson. 

It  was  my  expectation  to  have  united  in  this  expression  of 
regard,  but  I  find  that  I  cannot  do  so  without  much  incon- 
venience to  others. 

My  friendship  with  Mr.  Gibson  long  since  ripened  into 
intimacy. 

He  now  has  a  great  opportunity  and  I  am  sure  that  he  will 
greatly  fill  it.  Faithfully, 

Mr.  Alex.  Telford,  Samuel  F.  Hunt 

Cincinnati,  Ohio 

St.  Edwards  Church 

Rev.  M.  L.  Murphy 

Residence,  42  Wesley  Ave.,  Cincinnati,  Ohio 

Sept.  2,  1896. 
William  Gibson,  Esq.,  Baltimore,  Md. 
My  dear  kind  friend: 

I  wish  you  every  blessing  and  good  luck  in  your  new  sphere 
of  life  on  the  B.  &  0.  Road.     You  have  been  a  general  favorite 

277 


LETTERS    TO    MY    SON 

in  Springfield  and  I  hope  and  trust  you  will  be  equally  so  in 
Baltimore. 

Your  great  kindness  to  me,  makes  me  now,  in  unison  with 
your  many  friends  in  Ohio,  wish  you  again  many  blessings  and 
every  success. 

I   am,   dear   Mr.   Gibson, 

Sincerely   and   gratefully  yours, 

Martin  L.  Murphy, 

Formerly  of  Springfield. 
P.    S.     My   best   wishes   and   regards   to   Mrs.    Gibson   and 
the  dear  boy. 

There  are  also  a  number  of  newspaper  clippings, 
from  which  I  have  selected  the  following: 

Saxby's  tribute  to  Mr.  "Billy"  Gibson,  whose  headquarters 
will  hereafter  be  in  Baltimore,  will  find  an  echo  in  the  hearts  of 
all  who  have  listened  to  Mr.  Gibson's  inimitable  wit.  Saxby  says: 
"As  an  after-dinner  speaker  few  local  men  can  hold  a  candle  to 
him.  The  Burns  Club  will  lose  its  most  influential  member. 
Ohio  will  lose  one  of  its  most  practical  and  painstaking  knights 
of  the  rail,  and  many  of  us  will  be  obliged  to  part  with  a  good 
friend,  an  estimable  companion  and  an  all-round  jolly,  big-hearted 
fellow.  May  every  good  wish  accompany  him  in  his  new  field, 
and  let  him  rest  assured  that  his  sojourn  among  us  will  never  be 
forgotten  by  those  he  has  left  behind.  Mrs.  Gibson  will  also  be 
greatly  regretted  by  a  devoted  circle  of  friends.  She  is  a  woman 
of  rare  wit  and  culture,  and  as  a  raconteuse,  in  a  way  as  clever 

as  her  husband." 

*      *      *      * 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wm.  Gibson  left  for  Baltimore  last  week. 
Their  P.  P.  C.  cards  were  received  with  genuine  regret  by  their 
many  friends,  who  send  after  them  their  best  wishes  and  the 
refrain  of  the  old  song,  "Say  not  adieu  but  au  re  voir."  Mrs. 
Gibson  is  a  high-bred  type  of  the  thorough  gentlewoman.  Some 
philosopher  has  said  that  women  have  no  sense  of  humor;  an 
hour  with  Mrs.  Gibson  would  send  his  theories  glimmering,  for 
she  has  that  faculty  developed  to  a  delightful  degree.  "Tips" 
envies  Baltimore  society  the  monopoly  of  Mrs.  Gibson. 


GIBSON  S    FAREWELL 

It  is  harder  for  "Billy"  Gibson,  Superintendent  of  the  Cin- 
cinnati and  Sandusky  Divisions  of  the  Big  Four,  to  break  away 
than  he  thought  it  would  be  when  he  decided  to  go  with  the 

278 


Author's  Note: 

Candor  requires  me  to  say  that  my  extemporaneous  speeches  are  always 
carefully  prepared. 


LEAVE    CINCINNATI 

B.  &  0.    He  has  a  very  loyal  set  of  men  on  his  two  divisions,  and 
before  leaving  he  mailed  to  each  the  following  farewell: 

To  the  Employees  of  the  Cincinnati  and 
Sandusky  Divisions: 

I  can  not  leave  the  service  of  this  company 
without  saying  a  word  to  you.  Time  is  too  short  to 
permit  of  my  seeing  every  man  personally,  and 
to  meet  any  number  of  you  in  a  body  would  be 
embarrassing.     To  me  it  would  be  painful. 

Therefore,  I  take  this  opportunity  to  say  that, 
much  as  I  regret  to  leave  my  friends  and  neighbors 
here,  much  as  I  regret  to  leave  my  brother  officers, 
with  all  of  whom  my  relations  have  been  so  cordial, 
I  should  leave  unsaid  what  is,  perhaps,  nearest  my 
heart  were  I  not  to  tell  you  that  I  regret  more  to 
leave  my  men — the  train  despatchers,  the  yard- 
masters,  the  bridgemen,  the  enginemen,  the  track- 
men, the  agents,  the  conductors,  the  clerks,  the 
operators,  the  brakemen,  the  firemen — all  the 
honest,  stout-hearted  men  who  have  so  loyally 
supported  me,  and  to  whose  efforts  I  owe  what- 
ever measure  of  successs  I  may  have  attained. 
Your  splendid  discipline  has  made  everything 
possible. 

To  say  that  I  thank  you,  is  to  say  nothing. 
I  thank  you  a  thousand  times  over.  To  every 
man   I   bid   a   kindly   and   affectionate   good-bye. 

William  Gibson. 


279 


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